American Legion Auxiliary donates service dog scholarship

For the past year, Auxiliary Unit 278 of the Musconetcong American Legion Post 278 of Stanhope has been raising funds for Southeastern Guide Dogs.

The Florida-based nonprofit trains and matches service dogs to veterans with physical and mental health challenges, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

On April 29, the auxiliary held a luncheon to present Sean Brown, retired U.S. Army sergeant, service dog recipient and Southeastern Guide Dogs staff member, with a check for $5,000 to offset the costs of dog training for a veteran in need.

Brown, accompanied by his service dog, a sleek black Labrador named Nick, accepted the donation and provided the auxiliary, members’ families and residents with insights to his experiences with Nick and Nick’s predecessor, Pella, now living out her service dog retirement as the Browns’ family pet.

He discussed how these highly trained and intuitive canines improved his quality of life, and he spoke about the work that Southeastern Guide Dogs does for veterans and others in need of service dogs nationwide.

Nick lay quietly at Brown’s feet as the veteran shared intimate stories of his mental and physical health spiraling out of control after his separation from the military.

“I was medically retired after seven years, and I couldn’t find steady work,” he said. “I DJ’d at clubs, I did sports commentary, all these seemingly fun jobs that I could string together, but at the end of the day, I was struggling. And I was hiding that pain from my family. I didn’t want them to see the pain, to know about the night terrors.”

Brown said he found solace in his Harley-Davidson and the camaraderie of his motorcycle club, where he could lean on his friends like he had leaned on his buddies in the military.

But nerve damage and a permanent injury to his knee soon robbed him of the freedom he felt while riding. After selling the bike, Brown found himself in the throes of depression and overwhelming anxiety once again.

“Everyone who’s in that kind of trouble has what I call a ‘fork in the road’ moment,” he said. “And I was about to hit mine. It’s that tough moment when you’re hanging by a thread, and you need something to change.”

Shortly after his ‘fork in the road’ moments - hitting the deck in the local Wal-Mart when someone lit a firework outside, having to sell his beloved Harley and seeing relationships with family become tumultuous - that Brown learned about service dogs for veterans with PTSD.

“I was seeking a solution. I felt so lost without the mission of always having something to do in the military every day,” he said. “So I made it my new mission to learn everything I could about how I could get a service dog.”

Brown applied to Southeastern Guide Dogs and was put on a waiting list.

“The day I received the call that I was going to be matched with a dog, I was crying in my truck in the parking lot of the VA (Veterans Administration) clinic,” he said, “I was just so tired of fighting about my health. The phone call alone probably saved my life.”

Brown was matched with Pella, and instantly, his life changed.

“I was able to go out and do things again,” he said. “I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t go out alone, and once I had her, I wasn’t alone anymore.”

Although Pella has retired and been succeeded by Nick, Brown said she still likes to spend time with him when he’s having a particularly bad day.

“She’s usually asleep on my daughter’s bed, but when my knee is really acting up or I’m just not right, they’ll (Nick and Pella) flank me,” Brown said, “That’s how my wife knows I’m having a bad day without saying a word. Two dogs mean it’s a rough one.”

That combination of companionship, training and instinct is bred into every service dog that Southeastern Guide Dogs raises and trains. They select breeding stock and work with service dog programs worldwide to produce only the healthiest puppies, who then are placed with volunteer puppy raisers across the country.

Puppies live with their raisers until they are 18 months old, learning basic obedience and canine good citizenship, all while being exposed to a variety of environments and public settings. Seventy percent of Southeastern Guide Dogs’ puppies go on to training and placement, while the rest are adopted as pets.

Brown said the waiting list for service dogs is 18 to 24 months long. The nonprofit places between 125 and 150 dogs a year.

The organization has created unique ways to support approved veterans while they wait for their dogs, with an “Online University” course that covers everything from legal protections for service dogs to basic canine care.

Once recipients match with a dog, they meet for intensive partner training before going home together.

All dogs in the Southeastern Guide Dog Alumni program receive complimentary food and medical care for the life of the dog, even after they retire from service. All of the breeding, raising, training and care necessities that go into producing a service dog come at no cost to the recipient.

Brown said one of the organization’s greatest needs, beyond monetary donations to offset training costs, is more volunteer puppy raisers.

He praised Southeastern Guide Dogs for not only the pups that changed his life but for giving him his next mission.

“I couldn’t stop telling them all about how Pella brought me back from the brink,” he said. “And finally, they just said, ‘Sean, why don’t you come and work with us?’ I said yes before I could even talk to my wife. I went home and told her we were moving to Florida.

“Probably not the best order to do things,” he said, joking, “but it all worked out in the end.”

While many of Brown’s stories were tinged with humor and humility, he describes the impact of Southeastern Guide Dogs service animals with solemn reverence.

“There is no substitute for the peace of mind these dogs bring to people. They bring you home and let you push forward when you thought you never could again.

“And here’s the thing I want everyone to know, and I wish I could scream it to the world: We haven’t ever lost a single veteran who received one of our dogs. Even with veteran suicide rates at an all-time high, that percentage at Southeastern Guide Dogs is zero.”

In addition to providing service dogs, Southeastern Guide Dogs also provides guide dogs for veterans with visual impairments, facility therapy dogs for military medical facilities, skilled companion dogs for veterans with unique needs, and Gold Star family dogs for military families who have lost a loved one in active service.

There also are programs for teens and children with differing needs.

For information, go online to www.guidedogs.org