Where did you serve and what did you do?
Vietnam, 1998,1999 and 1992. B-52 pilot
Tell us how your dog is helping you continue #StillServing in your community.
This is a story still in the works.
My wife and I always had dogs. In over fifty-five years of marriage, there were so many dogs that it’s getting hard for us to remember them all. That may be a factor of old age but one thing for certain, we never had a bad dog, though maybe a few who required extra attention. In an effort to escape from California, we bought an old farmhouse near Woodstock Va. in June of 2000. It’s a county setting and our nearest neighbor, Tom, was a zookeeper who worked for the Smithsonian endangered animal breeding facility near Front Royal.
We soon learned that Tom’s passion was raising hunting dogs including Brittanys. He became a close friend and for the next 20 years tried to give us a pup with each new litter. They were beautiful and energetic animals but moving into our seventies, we shied from the idea of dealing with a high-octane dog. Tom was persistent and we finally gave in and took a female pup who would become a companion to an old rescue dog who had been with us for over 14 years.
We had almost forgotten what life was like with a new puppy. Every morning started with a laugh just watching the young dog begin its day like zero to sixty with nothing in between. My wife, Margaret, kept saying the dog would name itself, and after a month of chewing practically everything in the house, including a new pair of prescription glasses, she was christened “Chewy”. Born on Pearl Harbor day 2019, we started her field training the following December along with two of her sisters and a male Brittany. Tom was an expert at using pigeons and leash techniques to teach dogs the proper way to point and retrieve birds.
For several weeks we would have the dogs in the field right after sunup for a two-hour workout before breakfast. It was amazing to see the energy and stamina of the four dogs as they trained. They were natural hunters, bred to be curious and always alert to scent or sight that might lead to game, especially if it flies. I can’t remember a better time spent with dogs in the field. The big surprise was what loving pets they all seemed to be. This was something I was later to hear from any past or present Brit owner. In March, covid hit and our training was interrupted until early summer. By then, Chewy had become a constant companion to me, so much so that I felt lost without her.
I had been a professional pilot, from Vietnam to United Airlines after 22 years in the Air Force. Mandatory retirement at 60 compelled me to buy into a 1978 Piper Archer based at New Market, Va. There was a partner in the LLC and the November following Chewy’s training, he crashed just short of the runway in a newly harvested corn field. The shoulder harness saved him with only a bump on the head, but the Archer was a mess. NTSB came out and determined a mouse had caused the engine to fail which is another story (if interested, the report can be found at N68DW). A wild hair possessed me, and I bought the wreck from the insurance company with the idea of fixing it up. All I needed was a left wing, engine, landing gear and practically everything else. Chewy and I started the rebuild in December2000.
By January, I saw the reality of eating an elephant. Then it dawned on me, one bite at a time. When the task at hand is to clean and install one bolt the proper way even if it takes all day, then time is not a factor and a dog in the hangar with you is the best companion. Two winters later Chewy and I finished the rebuild. She sat in the back for the first engine runs, flew with me for the break in flights and now has over eighty hours in her logbook. In fact, the plane has flown only once without her since we started the project.
What came next, when you cannot be alone without your dog, was the ability to take her to places normally not welcome to dogs. A friend who had a service dog steered me in that direction. Numerous web sites exist that assist in the application and training necessary to register a service dog. Several of these sites require caution as they may not fully qualify the dog, usually based on training. I would recommend the AKC service dog site to provide complete information including training which can be done at home by the owner or with professional trainers. The following for vets”
In 2016, the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans created “CGC Plus”, a minimum standard for training and behavior for the service dogs their members provide to veterans. CGC Plus requires dogs to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen, Community Canine, and Urban CGC tests, plus demonstrate proficiency in performing three randomly selected specific services for a disabled person. The 2016 federal PAWS bill incorporated the AKC CGC into service dog requirements for Veterans’ Administration-funded dog.
As a service dog, Chewy was now allowed to most restaurants, museums, stores like Walmart and others. Walk into a store with a dog and you will have several new friends when you leave. With Chewy being friendly as she is, it was a pleasure to see people light up with smiles, offer treats and ask to pet the dog. Watching the pleasure of an elderly woman in a wheelchair with eyes closed stroke her, suggested that the next thing for Chewy was to be a therapy dog and that is the current work in progress.
Why do you do it?
To share the pleasure of dogs