Faithful Companions

Speaker 1: All right, everybody, we got a good but interesting episode today. This one we've got two veterans with us. Both of them have service dogs. We have Sean and his dog, nick, and then we have Morgan, um, who's service dog, after eight and a half years, just recently retired and he'll be getting a new one in a couple of weeks. And um we're going to talk about you know, how the, the service dog impacts their lives and how it's made everything better for them. And then they're going to touch on southeastern guide dogs and and and. what they do is a mission and and how they help. So welcome, gentlemen.

Speaker 2: Well, thanks for having us. I'm pretty excited.

Speaker 3: So so Sean um, how did your process of obtaining a service dog start?

Speaker 2: So I hit that that fork on the road. There's so many of our recipients hit where you have to make a decision. Uh, for me. My wife said I need to get some help after I lodged through remote control to our TV and our bedroom into the wall. Uh, and it stayed in the wall.

Speaker 2: Um, i had I had been triggered and she said you need to get some help. Uh, in order to keep my family, in order to keep my you know, my sanity and and to keep from pushing myself even further off the brink. Um, that was the moment we started looking. I was taking 16 pills a day. That day, uh, i was 285 pounds. I was quickly disconnecting with life. Um, and we found that service dogs were helping. Um, because we're taking less medication, they were losing weight. Uh, where can I go wrong? You know, two and 85 pounds on my frame Not a good idea. Um, i'm 350. I get it. Who? yeah, i just dropped down another another 40 pounds here and since, since January, um, but it's, that process was something that we did together, which was really exciting, because it's something I think that's, i can honestly say it's probably the first thing as a married couple that we did effectively together. Um, you know, of course, marriage, that's a whole another topic that we could jump on a whole another train. But, um, we found service dogs were the help. Right. So we we found, we found that we started digging and we found South Eastern guide dogs. Um, and when we found South Eastern guide dogs, watched the YouTube videos and it was no question, we put the applications in. I asked over 150 questions to the instructors.

Speaker 2: Uh, once I got that call and I I always remember and talk about the day that I got the call that I got a dog from South Eastern guide dogs, cause I was at the VA when I got the call. Um, i had just been told I had taken five polyps out of my colon, i was boarded on high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, you name it, doctor, which is laid on me, then went Oh well, have a great day, we'll see you next appointment. And I'm like trying to bottle everything in and trying to hide it. And I get to the truck and that call comes in that there's a dog for you, and I just broke down crying, uh, and I'm not a crier. Um, i mean, i'm a Harley Davidson rider, right, i'm not a crier Right Um it changed my life?

Speaker 2: Um that there was probably one of the best decisions I made in my entire life was to get a surface dog.

Speaker 3: And we, we have done an episode, uh, called ripple effect, that we've done with our spouses how, uh, the things that we have gone through We have gone through, the things that, um, that we battle with every day, affect them And, uh, you know, night terrors and uh, you know, we're both on our second marriage, uh, and things, things of that nature, exactly, i'm on the third.

Speaker 2: I'm on the third, third time, the charm.

Speaker 3: Um, and, and you know, it's important for your spouse to recognize a you have a problem and be be supportive enough to say we're going to, we're going to fight this together.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. You know, one of the one of the cool things I've learned as I've grown, um, as a veteran living with PTSD that I've been able to sew into younger veterans as they get out, is it's not your spouse's job to understand where you are. They're not going to understand, And it's not their fault. Um, it's their responsibility to hold us up and carry us when we're down, but it's our responsibility to understand. okay, this is where I am now. How do I push forward? This is my new mission, but we can't hold them accountable for what we don't even know we're dealing with Um, and a lot of young veterans don't understand that these days.

Speaker 3: Most certainly And and I think that that extends out to the VA, extends out to you know, a lot of young veterans nowadays is it's all about what are you going to do for me, right? Not, and, and we're a huge advocates about if you want fixed, you have to fix you. Right, you have to go and and grab people by the, by the arm and say help me.

Speaker 4: Yep.

Speaker 3: You know what I mean. Um Morgan, how did? how did you get started on your path with a guy dog?

Speaker 4: I guess, uh, at the age of 42, when I started dealing with so much chronic pain, um, i kind of hit an existential crisis. I questioned everything and you know I had buried so many emotions of so much trauma over the years, year after year, all the different things that happened, and, uh, i never felt it all the way along the way, i just tucked it away and kept on trucking And I was, you know, high speed, low drag, let's go, let's go, and I always be on the mission. And when I started dealing with so much pain that I wasn't functional anymore, i lost my career, right. Um, i went down that rabbit hole of depression that uh, just about took my life. Yeah, it was a every day for about two years, like that, you know. And, uh, i didn't know the way out. I was trying all the therapy, all the pills, everything, and I didn't really feel better. And my thanks to my wife.

Speaker 4: Um, she was the one that actually originally found South Eastern guide dogs and um interviewed there and went to work. And then I said, you know, my my therapist was saying Hey, morgan, you really need to get out of the house at least. I was like, okay, well, maybe I'll volunteer down there. So I started going down there, you know, spraying out kennels and hanging around the dogs, and I was only working like two hours shifts because that's all I could handle. It was just, you know, that's, that's all I could do in the day. And I came home and I was like God, i actually felt better down there. And she was the one that actually said, morgan, i think you should look into getting a service dog from this program, and that saved my life, completely saved my life.

Speaker 4: All of those dark days didn't completely stop, but I could see an end to them with this dog that was there 24 and seven for me all the time, just something so far outside of the box that I thought was going to fix me. Um, which, you know, some things can't be fixed, but we can have better days than we've had before. We can improve, we can be functional, we can be productive, we can be there for each other. You know, and it's like once you get that new mission and having that for a companion next to you 100% of the time, non-judgment, unconditional love, it's just that's not even human, you know. So you get that and it's just like a whole new lease on life.

Speaker 1: When I came home from good for good you know years of compartmentalizing to be able to function over there and stuff The wife knew something was wrong before I knew something was wrong, of course, And you know she would be gone at work, the kids would be gone at school, and so I'm left to sit on the recliner and just stare at the walls. And that's when all that compartmentalization. So instead of dealing with each individual event, you deal with seven years of events like that. That's right. And we had a three-year-old golden doodle. Her name was Maddie.

Speaker 1: She was like 102 pounds, she's a big girl, but with no formal training or anything. she just she was so empathetic that she knew when I was going down that hole before and she, she had just put her big old body up on me. Just, she would just know, hey, he needs something and I got something that I can give him. And I tell people all the time she passed away when she was nine And when she died I lost my battle, buddy, like it was devastating to me because she, just she was just, she was special And not even being formally trained. So I can't even imagine how having one of these companions who's actually formally trained to know what to look for and how to do. And all that how it could be beneficial to you. Because, like I said, just just her was enough to help me hold it together long enough for me to accept that I had a problem and then go from there, cause if it wouldn't have been for her, i don't think I could have held it together as long as I did.

Speaker 2: It's with these dogs, man. It's really amazing Some of the things they're able to do, the things that they pick up on And, as I say a lot these days, the newer models, cause we both have older models that we've retired. The newer models are so much more advanced as compared to what our older models were able to do. It's night and day. It's so incredible And I've been pouring this in the Morgan for the last few weeks now, ever since we found out about fully retiring. I was like you have no idea what you're in store for.

Speaker 1: So is it as you guys have the dogs and you provide the feedback, they modify their training routines. Or is it also with the breeding program as well? So like, are they breeding better traits based off of feedback from you guys and then developing better training?

Speaker 2: Or Yeah, so that it all goes back to. you know, when we got our dogs, we weren't on a positive reinforcement system. We did. we said the word no. quite often We're both for dogs and we're Pelle and Foley. Now these dogs are raised where, if you say no, they know oh, i messed up. They turn into the child that is getting the look And it's just. they will love to work And they love to try and do things to figure out. okay, is this what you want me to do? Is this what you want me to do? And then, when they figured out the moments that connect to what you want them to do, they start doing it on their own. We walk in the elevator. Nick immediately comes with my legs and sits down. It's been something that we've been working on consistently And it's just amazing.

Speaker 2: I remember the first three weeks after we graduated. we were at home and I was laying on my spine and manipulated, just trying to loosen up my back. So I got the generation of my spine and the pain got so bad that all I could do was just lay there, and we've all experienced that at one point or another. All I could do was just lay on the floor He got up off of his bed without me saying a word and just came and laid on top of me. Something in that released something in my body that the pain started to go away.

Speaker 2: And then, because I have a prosthetic knee, it only goes one direction. He was able to help me get up with a brace position, and that to not have to ask for that. And he already knew that within three weeks it took Pella a little bit longer than that to learn some of the basic stuff that we were trying to, as far as being able to do it without me having to ask. Three weeks, i mean, i show, in two years this is gonna be scary. He's gonna be talking for me in two years.

Speaker 1: Now it's Pella who you had with you last year.

Speaker 2: No, so I had.

Speaker 4: Nick last year.

Speaker 2: Pella retired in July of 2021, about 90s after WrestleMania. As I like to say, wrestlemania was her swan song, she got me to a bucket list item And then she was diagnosed with severe storm anxiety and she was forced into retirement. But yeah, she's still, to this day, sits and watches WWE when it comes on TV, so I guess I did something right. It's cool though It's having two in the house. I got the opportunity to see the handoff or the change of command. We're on a military podcast. Let's talk military.

Speaker 2: I got to see the change of command ceremony. We throw a ball in the house and on the hallway And we're throwing the ball for the first few weeks. As they got home, pella went running to get the ball, bring the ball back, because she knew, okay, i'm the ace, this is my house. Third week we throw the ball, she runs, stops, lets him get the ball, bring the ball back to me, and it's been that way ever since.

Speaker 2: So we literally saw the change of command ceremony happen right there in the hallway in the house, and it's so cool to see those moments.

Speaker 1: So in three weeks he picked up things that you weren't expecting, and in three weeks she understood I'm not the worker anymore.

Speaker 2: It's been. and when I say she's retired, oh, she goes out back. We're like all right, let's go in the house. And she throws me a nice strong middle finger and lays down So, morgan, you mentioned earlier about functioning, non-functioning, not being able.

Speaker 3: A lot of veterans think that they're functioning alcoholics, they're functioning drug addicts, they're functioning overeaters, they're functioning from a porn addiction, whatever that vice is. What we fail to realize is the more we think we're functioning, the more that we're leaning on everyone around us. We're leaning on our coworkers, we're leaning on our friends, we're leaning on our spouses, and that weight becomes a burden. And you mentioned how the dog relieves some of those burdens And on every episode we kind of tie our vices and we tie Leisure. And I would say that You know the dogs Would be a leisure, a stress reliever, right, and Just just having having something you know that's there and It, it automatically calms you, automatically Helps you. What? every time I feel bad, no matter what time of the year. It is, especially in Ohio When I get on a bike and go outside of Automatically. A little bit better, no, matter what it is.

Speaker 3: I've, you know I've had some, i've had some, you know, personal tribulations this week and You know that's got my, got my mind spinning and But I put 600 miles on the bike in the last three days just to, you know, just to calm, you know, quiet the mind. So I Have a dog at home, he's a German Shepherd and He's on.

Speaker 1: This is not just a German, like what you think of as a German Shepherd is not.

Speaker 3: What bear is he? this is the. This is the second attempt of a podcast outside of the brick corner tavern my personal bar at my house that we've Attempted to record in, but he's in every, every episode. He's not. He's not as good as Nick. I mean he lays for a long period of time but you know, at about an hour and 15 minutes He has to get up and go outside. You hear the door squeak.

Speaker 3: And most and most episodes on the floor but yeah, you know, i didn't grow up per se with dogs. I Had. I had a dog In my I like to say, my last family, my old family. We had a dog and I had a boxer named Brutus. When I was deployed my wife gave him away, right, and I didn't think Again the crying thing. I didn't think it would impact me as such. You know, you come home and Your dog's not there.

Speaker 2: You're like what happened? pain right there, right He.

Speaker 3: Ran away, you know, i mean, and you're like he's chipped. You're right, like finding. Yeah, you know, but you know, but that's why she's the ex-wife. But so Southeastern guy dogs, how many, how many dogs currently? Are they the paws or Patriots program supplying to veterans?

Speaker 2: so we place about 125 to 150 dogs a year okay on a daily basis. Our company is responsible for over a thousand dogs on one day Across the United States from Washington State all the way down to Key West Florida. We got somebody moving to Hawaii here soon. I can't wait to get responsibility to go see them but, It's.

Speaker 2: It's it's a daunting task that our company undertakes, but it's a mission that is game-changing. These dogs I mean you said it earlier, something you said earlier, i really stuck to me and you said it you know To wheel therapy. These dogs are our because, i mean, i was a Harley rider for years. He is my to wheel therapy now because I can no longer ride right. It's To be able to provide that at no cost, first of all that's, that's huge.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that by itself, because the VA only pays us so much. Right? the Gap between 90% and 100% is over $1,700. For some reason To be able to say okay, you don't have to worry about dog food, you don't have to worry about multiple preventatives, you don't have to worry about anything but taking care of your dog Every, ever, for the life of the dog, right?

Speaker 2: and then the next dog once they've retired, yeah, and then if something happens, we'll send somebody out to make sure that you're all squared away. We got into, we got hit by a FedEx truck three weeks right as graduation and, literally, if I had lived in Washington State, somebody would have been on the plane the next day to make sure we were good. That dedication to the mission, that dedication to our nation's veterans For free you can't beat that right.

Speaker 2: It is the greatest gift that you can give a Person living with what we all live with yeah. Because you're providing the crutch that we all, you know We all have our vices that we've used to get by. When I was on the motorcycle scene, we were all living with the same things. Right, we all live with pain, ptsd, we all. We could drink a leader of Jack a night. We could drink a leader of Woodford a night and feel nothing right.

Speaker 2: And go about our business and ride 250 miles to the next stop. It's, it's These dogs replaced that need. Do I miss my Harley? Hell yeah, every day. Yeah, i tried, i got sidecar. No, can't do it, mm-hmm. I think one of the greatest things about these dogs is that.

Speaker 4: You know you talk about all of these vices, right, they're all numbing They. They numb me out, you know, because you don't want to feel it. Yeah, these dogs actually Put that safe space around you to allow you to feel it, so that you can heal it.

Speaker 3: Very, i mean you're feeling, but it's positive. It's positive for something. After a long time of negative, you know, getting beat over the head with negative stuff, you now have a positive right. Yeah, i mean it's. You know, we, we're so happy. You guys are on Every, every week we're trying to find And one of the organizations that I work with, mission 22, with it's We made sure mission 22 does not take a cookie cutter approach to helping veterans.

Speaker 3: Every, every veteran heals differently. Every, every veteran responds to trauma, responds to treatment differently. And mission 22 partners with a litany of Organizations out there, be it equine therapy, be it they. They have a dog program as well. You know, the reason you don't have a cookie cutter is, like I said, everyone's different.

Speaker 3: So it's easy to say you know, we like to ride motorcycles. That's Like I said before. That's our, that's our freedom, that's our release. But it's not for everybody. And if, if you can't, do you give up? no, you have to find an alternate right. And or, hey, you know what you, there's no rule that says you can't stack Leisure's. You know you can't ride for an hour, get off, go. You know, go shoot for a while, go. You know, whatever the case may be, but you know. But what you can't do at 3 am When You know you have a night terror, that the dogs there you know mean the. So you know A lot of, you know a lot of veterans out there. A guide dog is a, a symbol of a Weak, weakness. Right, a symbol of I'm broken, i'm broken. Right, it's a. It's a flag to the world that I'm broken right, scarlet.

Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a target right and they don't they don't want.

Speaker 3: They don't want to Show outwardly how people already see them, right? you know, like, like we've all said, our wives know when we're down before We normally Are aware that we're down. You know, mean. So You know it's, it's, it's the it's easier to pretend you're not broken.

Speaker 1: Yeah, how do you say? How do you?

Speaker 2: say I'm a mask, right? how do you say I'm okay and you have a?

Speaker 3: service dog, right, i mean, how do you say I'm fine or how do you know, mean it's? it's one of those things where the stigma out there is. You know I'm hardwood pecker lips, i'm. You know I'm unfasable, but you know I don't want to, i don't want to tell people I'm fine and I have a service dog. That I mean it's. But It's awesome, right, that you guys can come on and say, awesome, right, that you guys can come on and say, regardless of all that, the, the, the rewards outweigh any stereotypes, any stigmas, any anything. You know, and What we try to do on this podcast is be real and raw and, you know, hit the both edges of the sword and be like.

Speaker 3: You know there's, there's veterans out there and we all know them, we all have buddies that that think You know That the leisure part of whiskey, wills and runes are more of um a negative. Then The vices right, like it's, it's cooler to drink a bottle of whiskey a night than it is to say, hey, excuse me, i need help, i need, you know, i need a service dog, i need a. So that's where the, that's where the stigma is when, when it's tougher, when you're considered tougher to to do all the Quote on quote air, quotes masculine. You know alpha stuff That you know we've talked about in the past.

Speaker 2: I think we all got pushed. We, when you, you get ingrained into the culture of adapting, overcome That's. That's just a mission. That's how we operate as military. But one of the things that we've learned as service dog recipients is the first step you have to take is to say I need help. That's the hardest step, that's your first step towards healing. It's your first step toward And that's the biggest step that a man can take is to say I need assistance you know what?

Speaker 4: uh, once I started walking around in public, you know, with a service dog, yeah, i was kind of looking around, everyone's looking at me and They don't. All of a sudden I realize they're not looking at me, they're looking at my dog. Right, you know? They don't even know I exist. I'm still invisible, you know. And what I found with actually having conversations with people Was that my dog gave me the freedom to live authentically And to tell somebody hey, you know what? Yeah, i'm in a rough day. I would have never said that during my career, ever I would have never shown a motion, a vulnerability or anything. But by living more authentically I've been able to connect at a deeper level with more people Then I ever did, throwing that hardened mask on.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's real man. I remember being active duty Coming I I. I got medevac back in 08 with meningitis. After I got cleared to come back to duty I had had a peripheral seizure so I couldn't drive. I remember Savannah, georgia, 3rd infantry division. It's the middle of the summer, rock of the morn, all day. Top of the rock, first sergeant stands in formation and says if anybody helps sergeant Brown get the formation, i'm gonna cut your head off and watch it bleed. I'm standing right there. I Needed help just to get to work because I just had my brain was on fire for three months. That by itself That's traumatizing. Oh yeah, that puts you in a place where it's like I have nowhere to go for assistance. I have nowhere to go for help. That's the, that hardens, adapting, overcome and it. I just thought about that. It's really that really kind of hit home where it's just like Man. That moment And I'll make I'll take it back to a humor side Um, i love to bring humor out of my struggles.

Speaker 4: Yeah, I struggle topic.

Speaker 2: But I was driving to the Charleston VA after I got out, about six months after I got out, and I hear this guy just laying on his horn. What's wrong with this guy? What is? and I look over and it's the first sergeant. He's happy, just just happier than pig, just waving at me. Hey bro, how you doing? No, i don't, i got nothing to say to you dude.

Speaker 2: What are we gonna talk? You literally scarred me And he changed the the the trajectory of my career because I had no one to talk to anymore. Right, you know, one of the things that that I say a lot when we're when we're speaking out down in florida is Something that most civilians will never understand. Every person that raised their right hand, went to basic training and at least got through valley forge Browns going over the head, has experienced some kind of trauma. Right, that's real. Your average civilian is never gonna understand Being out in the middle of the woods With simulated grenades going off randomly in the middle of the night, going through a gas chamber for no reason. They're never gonna understand that experience that changes a person That little bit.

Speaker 2: People always think well, it's the combat that we need. Combat veterans, combat veterans. All veterans need this assistance because all veterans have experienced trauma. It's not, you know, 45 percent of veterans experience speak. No, all veterans have experienced some kind of trauma. Once they raise that right hand, you get off the bus, coming into basic training, you're experiencing trauma.

Speaker 3: That's a real experience, not y'all Not y'all.

Speaker 2: Yeah, you guys went to the pool.

Speaker 1: Air force was at the pool, so you know when you get sent somewhere and they don't have a five star hotel right, that's fucking trauma. That's trauma, right man?

Speaker 4: I. I got my trauma forked x knee jersey ground. Okay, all right. So yeah, i was. I'm army cadre.

Speaker 2: Beat the crap out of us, i remember getting off the plane in iraq And we had to get another c-130 to go to the fob. Air force was on our flight in. Those jobs were already headed to the pool. Oh, we were walking to the tarmac to get on our c-130. What kind, what is this foolishness?

Speaker 3: Yeah, i told I, i tell him the story that when in 05 yeah, 05 we went from Bakuba, iraq, down to victory, victory base complex and they have, you know, a bus route around victory base and you know We were in a, a police station, where we can only shower every other day, mm-hmm, sometimes, you know it, water depending. So we, so we parked the home v's, we get on the bus and these air force females get on the bus after us And walk by us smelling like perfume, with earrings in lipstick on, and I'm like They don't even know there's a war going on outside.

Speaker 2: You know, I don't know idea.

Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, i mean it's, it's um. Yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 1: Yeah, when I was in Bagram, uh, we had army guys that swing by and like pain. These air force chicks are hot. I'm like you do's been in the army way too long.

Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2: If you were hot in the army and you were hot in acus, you were hot outside acus. Right, that was a giveaway.

Speaker 3: Yeah and and uh, i was. I was lucky enough to be on the mar morning express myself For many, many years, many, many years, i was uh uh, at the black hole, yeah, well, yeah, you can't get out the marn train I was right.

Speaker 3: I was down in fort steward early 90s, 94 to 96, and then, uh, went over to fort benning. It was In the third brigade, third id of Rome for benning. For Many more years after every, every time I deployed was with the third id. So, yeah, and we've talked about the trauma of the mar and express. Oh, boy, and it dog face soldiers.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's morning right.

Speaker 3: But it's one of those things where You think You know The leadership thinks they're helping. You know it's a hardening um, a hardening experience. And you know, i, i became that, i became that leader at some point. Uh, you know, suck that shit up, rub some dirt on it, uh, and, and you know there's a difference between being injured and being hurt, and uh, you know um, but yeah.

Speaker 3: Now looking back with the. You know the great part about retrospect is you know you can look back on things and be like oh that was a big move.

Speaker 2: Kind of like oh, we're 20, 20. Kind of like, yeah.

Speaker 3: So yeah, i mean, i think it's awesome that these dogs bring so much quality to your guys' life.

Speaker 1: I think So how long did you have your dog?

Speaker 4: I still have him. Well, I mean, we're actively working. He's alive, Yeah still there, sorry.

Speaker 1: How long was he actively working? Eight and a half years, okay, so, and then he retired this past Monday.

Speaker 4: Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: So how has that changed? you going out in public and things like that?

Speaker 4: It was very interesting. You know, just just walking through the airport today, I felt like I was naked, I felt very exposed, And when I was sitting on the airplane, often I'm just like God, why can't I stop these damn thoughts just racing and ruminating and going crazy, And I'm like we should. I don't have my dog with me, And I really noticed that I was visibly more anxious because he wasn't with me for like the first time and a long time, And so it's been a challenge. But I also know that he took me from the deepest and darkest holes to where I am now, being able to come out here and move us off of his dog and and be able to just say you know what, I'll be vulnerable.

Speaker 1: I'll let you have it, You know he took you from the deep end to the shallow end. You're still in. I'm still in.

Speaker 4: And you know, like I said before, i think there are things that won't necessarily heal, but you can have better days and you can be proactive with that. And that dog helps you be proactive because when they're waking up in the morning and it's time to get up, they're going to get you up and you're going to be on a schedule. They're going to want to eat certain times of the day, they're going to want to go outside and five in the house.

Speaker 4: Yeah, i know, yeah, you're on a schedule And I was. I was like, okay, i'm gonna start the night off. Right, that does a belong. Is it gonna say leave, ys, is the dog waiting for anytime? You know he's never been工作, so for four whole days you're going to leave. How long are you going to work hours to? you know?

Speaker 1: I'm not sure if a couple months, but imagine if, if you know something, say five hours a day.

Speaker 2: You know he's got on a lifeical shift around if he hasn't started his life whe your body and you know those kinds of physical activities that he's got in life. I was still going out and doing Beyond the Dark and the stuff and speaking at things. Luckily we have our policy on campus where we can bring our pets to work with us. When she retired she became a pet So she conveniently started coming to Beyond the Dark for a while, until about 30 days before I got Nick, because they started bringing random service dogs air quotes, random service dogs into the Beyond the Dark experience to see how they reacted to noise. He was in the random group. I just didn't know it was him.

Speaker 2: I could tell the recession was starting or the regression was starting to happen, because I stopped going to the places that I would normally go to just because I'm good. But I've gotten to the point now where if I've got my family member with me or I forgot my son or my daughter, i've got a six-year-old. So six-year-old plus a leash plus a six-year-old by itself is a lot. I've come so far in my journey that if I'm by myself, my service dog is with me, if I get to the point where I've got to have my daughter with me and my daughter is my focus and it keeps me on game. If my wife's with me, i'm focused. My wife and a lot of the guys in the OCM have met my wife or her With my wife. She's speaking at the June event, shameless Plug. She knows She sees it now before I even realize stuff's happening and she'll get me out of environments. She'll kind of hey, are you good, are you okay?

Speaker 1: See, that's my wife. She guides me so I can go into crowds with her and I'm very comfortable.

Speaker 2: I'm not comfortable, but I can get through it.

Speaker 3: She also puts him in the fucking crowds.

Speaker 4: Oh, wow, okay.

Speaker 3: So she, that's why she guides me, because she's been married 23 years.

Speaker 2: You have to go into crowds.

Speaker 3: She is an extrovert on colossal proportions. Oh wow, Very much social butterfly.

Speaker 1: But last October my son and I my middle son, he's 21. We went to go see Five Finger Death Punch and a couple other at a concert and I was super nervous because the wife wasn't going to be with me. I'm going to be in a big crowd. There's going to be people everywhere Like how am I going to get through this? That's a lot.

Speaker 4: That does a lot.

Speaker 1: But because the kids have grown up watching everything. he not as good as his mom, but he did serviceable enough to get me in and out without having any major issues.

Speaker 3: That's good, he's a he's part of the E4 mafia.

Speaker 1: He's, he's a shitbag E4. That boy, that boy could not have been one of my troops, as an. Air Force NCO, i'd have done strangled him. So I mean that that's how big of a a shammer he is. Lots of appointments.

Speaker 2: And he's guard sham. So like it's a nasty girl.

Speaker 1: But um, so just that was, was, was a lot for me. I couldn't imagine being, you know, so so, for lack of a better term dependent on your dog to be able to navigate so many social situations. And then, all of a sudden, days, weeks, months to not have that?

Speaker 1: um, uh, what'd you say earlier? um, to lean on and and to have them there to support, to not have that and be able to still ex expected to do those type of social situations. It's just crazy, um, and I assume that when you've regressed to a certain point, um, it wasn't as hard to get back to operational, but it was still a transition.

Speaker 2: No, it was it was either way, was a transition. Um, you know, one of the things that I shared with Morgan last week or week before last I said you know is a grief process once your dog retires. I remember Pelle retired and then I had to go somewhere, i had to go to an appointment or something, and I looked down on a passenger wheel Well, and she's not there and it was just like, oh, i feel a hole, i just feel like I was missing up my arm, um, because at the end of the day at least it's almost every day in my hand It's, she's connected to me. Um, and it's, it's an adjustment period. One of the things that we always try to tell a lot of our classes because we get to talk to every veterans class that comes in um is when that time comes, prior. Proper planning prevents poor performance. If you can afford to do it, if you can do it, plan the overlap So you don't have like Morgan is doing he's got a two week gap, but you ideally, want to plan last September.

Speaker 4: Yeah, that's pretty quick.

Speaker 2: Um, but set yourself up for success So you don't have as better to have a. Not need the need to not have um set yourself up so you're not on your own when you hit that situation. When you need your dog, Um, it's. And of course there are some places where, like, we go to a lot of hockey, we got hockey games, We go to baseball games, Some places where the seats just a little too tight. It would be so uncomfortable for a dog to fit in there. Hockey games we make they'll be okay. But like the raise games 10 bay raise games, best team in baseball right now, shameless plug Um, I'll tell you about more that later. I'll tell you about that later. But, um, you know those seats are tight if you're not in the suites or you're not in the lower, you know lower A throughs, through G seats, So it's almost uncomfortable to try to put a dog and people. That's uncomfortable for a person to sit there. My knees are in the seat, I have prosthetic knee, So it's just thinking about. Okay, if family can hold you down, cool, If I'm going by myself, oh, my dog's going, we'll figure it out. But if family can hold you down, then go have fun. And one of the things that we've learned is our family learned how to put on the leash, essentially, Um, I ran into veterans, uh, and I'll push after this.

Speaker 2: I ran into veterans that I went. The whole spiel about. This is who we are, Southeast and guide dogs. This is what we can provide, What we can do for you when you're a veteran and the spouse goes well, what about me? Well, what am I going to do if he gets a dog? What I'm not going to have, any I'm, I'm his only connection. A dog can't. What am I? what am I going to do now?

Speaker 4: And I was like man.

Speaker 2: That's deep, because they're so adapted. I'm like, well, now you can go live your life as his wife, not his caretaker. Um, and it's that's an interesting topic that a lot, of, a lot of couples don't think about, right, Um, because the spouse is so used to being the caretaker.

Speaker 3: Yeah, And it goes back to functioning. Yep, Right, We think we're functioning. We put those blinders on to how much pressure we're putting on everyone around us in order to function Putting pressure on our dogs, putting pressure on our family, our friends and coworkers. You know the whole nine, how much pressure we're putting on people around us just for us to function. You know what I mean Air quotes. So you all right, I'm on YouTube. I know the Hamlet, I'm a combat lifesaver.

Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean So, so big buddy here.

Speaker 3: So is service dogs the only thing that Southeastern guy dogs provide, i mean as an animal.

Speaker 2: So we only provide dogs According to the ADA? I know you're asking. According to the ADA, the only thing that can be clarified as a service dog is a manager horse or a service animal. So manager horse or a dog. But we have service dogs for veterans. We have skilled companion dogs for veterans. We changed the name. It was originally a emotional support animal but we all know why we had to change the name to that. I won't go down that rabbit hole With skilled companion dogs for veterans that just need that assistance in the house. Those dogs don't have public access rights. We have our Gold Star family programs for families of those that have lost a loved one. Obviously they paid ultimate sacrifice. We've broadened that umbrella. Our Gold Star dogs also go to the families of those that have lost a battle to suicide, our active duty or veteran, even if they're Marines. Sorry, i had to put that in there. We provide now lost my train of thought.

Speaker 3: But the caveat I mean we buried the lead the caveat on that how many veterans has Southeastern guy dogs lost to suicide? None.

Speaker 2: Exactly, not a single one, not a single one.

Speaker 3: We buried that lead So we're Southeastern guy dogs is providing dogs to Gold Star families, to include families of veterans who perished from suicide, but not Southeastern guy dog recipients. We have not had that problem, exactly I don't wanna say a problem.

Speaker 2: We have not had that situation occur with any of our recipients. We screen that to the rooftops, everywhere we go.

Speaker 3: Every opportunity we get every microphone we get.

Speaker 2: We scream it to the rooftops.

Speaker 3: With the epidemic of veteran suicide, it's a very viable option.

Speaker 1: It's rare that you can say 100% of our treatment up to this point has never led to a suicide. To be able to tout that statistic and this community is huge, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3: It means something. And we have a buddy who's on the recipient list and there's what 500 or so applications each year.

Speaker 2: Each year. We're currently at our all time high, which is a really good thing because, as a lot of people say, i need the help. We slowed down production per se of dogs during the big C, the shutdown. We slowed down, so we're ramping back up. But as we get more puppy raisers in we'll be able to get more dogs out a lot faster, so that'll cut down those wait times. So it's kind of a shameless plug for that.

Speaker 2: We need puppy raisers to raise our dogs And there's a lot of options there to be puppy raisers as well that we're gonna be announcing here publicly here in the near future. So I would stay close to our website, guidedogsorg.

Speaker 3: And for everyone, just on the monetary side of Southeastern Guide Dogs, a lot of their is from donations.

Speaker 2: It's all from donations, all from donations.

Speaker 3: So and understand that the process of getting a service dog out to a veteran is very stringent and very thorough And just because you're 100% disabled and things of that nature doesn't necessarily mean you qualify. So I mean, if you believe you need a service dog, the application's online. It is wwwguidedogsorg. That is a valid point.

Speaker 2: We strive to provide the best dogs with the best possible scenarios for veterans that apply. It's not an assembly line. Every dog is handcrafted per se to meet the needs of a specific veteran. So that's a good point, And I think that's a good point To meet the needs of a specific veteran. The way you walk, the ideas, the ideas of things that you wanna do in the future, the goals you have, the activities that you participate in the daily basis. Some dogs just aren't built for that. Some dogs are high drive. They need to go out and play all day long. They need to be with somebody who's going out and exercising. Some dogs are low drive, for folks that maybe you know have a prosthesis and have to walk a little bit slower. Each dog is hand-tooled, So that way, if you would make that dog into a human, it would look like they're handler.

Speaker 3: So let's put a bow on this, because you know we have other engagements this evening.

Speaker 1: And I made us late.

Speaker 3: Yeah, and you made us late. I might get catch on fire, though I'm just saying I mean, yeah, so put a bow on this Service dogs. You know we've talked for an hour about the benefits. Is there a con? Is there a downside? Exactly, i mean.

Speaker 4: Any chance you get to expand your support network, in whatever form that takes, take it, take it take it and move forward For free.

Speaker 3: Yeah, for free. Yeah, i mean it's, you know It costs you time and effort.

Speaker 1: Time and effort, that's it Be willing to ask for help.

Speaker 3: And again, we appreciate you guys coming all the way up from Florida to be on our podcast. We we appreciate it And we'll see y'all next time.