Paws for Heroes helps serve those who have served

UNION GAP, Wash. -- With a quick grooming and bath, Labradoodle puppies Myah and Dusti began their journey Tuesday toward becoming psychiatric service dogs for war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The dogs, donated by a local family through the Yakima-based Paws for Heroes organization, are headed for Tacoma, where they'll be given to volunteers from families of deployed or killed-in-action soldiers who will train them. Once the dogs are certified service animals, they'll be given to returning soldiers with PTSD.

"The dogs will be taught a time schedule, so the soldier will stay on a time schedule," said Susan Whitman, one of the founders of Paws for Heroes. "They have to get out of bed. They have to go out of the house. Just the basic care of a dog keeps them moving."

Whitman, a former Yakima councilwoman whose son-in-law, Army Staff Sgt. Kyle Eggers, was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she and a group of other veterans advocates came up with the idea based on how well psychiatric service dogs have done with soldiers suffering from PTSD. That success has been reported in numerous publications and is a focus of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, a nonprofit based in Arlington, Va.

"We have seen, on an anecdotal basis, many people using these dogs who are able to do things they couldn't do before, like leave the house," said the society's president Joan Esnayra.

Soldiers with PTSD are often afraid to go out in public, especially at places where there might be crowds, she said. That changes with service dogs by their side.

"Going shopping, or to a concert or cultural event -- we see the people we work with doing these things now," Esnayra said. "It's a huge, huge change in their lives."

Cathy Otero, the grooming salon manager who worked on the dogs Tuesday at Petco, knows all about the power of animals helping veterans readjust to life at home. Otero served 12 months in Iraq with the Army National Guard in 2007 and 2008. Dogs can often sense a person's mood based on body language before other people notice anything is wrong, she said.

"You can talk to a person all you want -- a therapist or someone -- but a dog is man's best friend," she said.

Myah and Dusti were named in honor of Army Spc. Jeremiah Schmunk of Richland and Marine Cpl. Dustin Sides of Yakima, who were killed in action. They'll be raised by Brenda Howard's family in Shelton and Paul and Mary Bradshaw's family in Steilacoom after they're handed over Thursday at Camp Murray in Tacoma. After 12 to 14 months, they'll be certified as service animals.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.