A Canadian organization that trains service dogs to support veterans and first responders living with post-traumatic stress disorder is looking for people in Niagara-on-the-Lake and surrounding communities who could benefit from a support dog.
The Canadian Veteran Service Dog Unit made the appeal Wednesday during a gathering at the home of Dorothy Soo-Wiens and Erwin Wiens, where representatives discussed the role of service dogs and introduced a puppy named in honour of one of the unit’s local supporters.
Last year, Niagara-on-the-Lake volunteers raised $96,000 for the organization through a fundraiser that included an auction for the opportunity to name a dog. Peter Warrack won the auction and named the black Labrador Bonita, after his wife, Bonita Cawker.
Cawker told The Lake Report she was overwhelmed after meeting the puppy.
“I started to cry when I met Bonita,” she said. “You meet the dog and you know the dog is going to do something really [important].”
The Canadian Veteran Service Dog Unit is an organization close to Cawker and Warrack’s hearts.
Warrack experienced stressors firsthand during his time in the British Army and as a detective in Northern Ireland.
“My husband’s a survivor, there’s no question,” Cawker said.
Soo-Wiens described her husband Erwin’s experience on the police force and how frontline work can affect people.
“It changed him,” Soo-Wiens said.
Soo-Wiens said her husband was lucky to have access to counselling and recognizes that support dogs, too, could help veterans and first responders get through their hardest moments.
Judy Manherz, lead instructor with the Canadian Veteran Service Dog Unit, gave a short presentation on how the dogs can support their owners.
Dogs can support people experiencing dissociation and anxiety and can even disrupt nightmares.
“They’ll lie on you with deep pressure, so that pressure helps bring you back and regulate heartbeat,” Manherz said.
The dogs are also being trained in scent detection so they can sense rises in cortisol, the stress hormone.
“We have people that have not left their house in three years and are now going out into public with dogs. It really does give you goosebumps,” she said.
Dwayne Sawyer, president of the unit and a veteran, confirmed just how life-changing a support dog can be.
“My first service dog saved my life three times,” he said.
