A Soldier's Best Friend
By: George D. Clarke Jr., IE 63, Photos by: Kimberly Marsh | Categories: Alumni Interest
Almost 53 years later, I walked into the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Prescott, Ariz., and walked away with a solid two-fer: I got healthcare and my canine partner got a job.
Waiting at home was Jack, my Rhodesian Ridgeback certified therapy dog. Therapy dogs work because about 30,000 years ago, our domesticated wolves, Canis Lupus Familiaris, hijacked our human-to-human bonding process. Gazing into each other’s eyes, both the person and the dog experience an increase in the bonding hormone oxytocin and the release of seratonin, the feel-good hormone.
A few weeks after I wandered into the V.A. facility, Jack and I began visiting the long-term patients in the Community Living Center—these were veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses. We met families in the hospice wing. Jack would let them pet him, bringing calm and comfort while they sat and spoke of their dogs and their lives with them. We also visited patients in the Dementia Special Care wing. Sometimes their handling of Jack was a little rough. But Jack was a trooper and never showed any discomfort—he was the long-serving G.I. who understood that sometimes service is going to be uncomfortable, and you just have to gut it out. Every Wednesday, he and I went down to the hospital. One day, a man with Dementia bear-hugged Jack. I was worried how Jack would react the next week. The following Wednesday, we walked into the room and Jack walked over and put his head on the guy’s knee. The staff said the man was calmer and more relaxed after our visits.
I was taught by a retired cavalry officer that an officer is not just in charge of his troops. Because he can send them into harm’s way, he is irretrievably responsible for everything—from their lunch to their time off. That responsibility doesn’t end on weekends nor after years away. The teaching was repeated many times by outstanding leaders under whom I have served. The men I sent into harm’s way years ago are now scattered. I can’t help them, but I can help the guys and gals in the veterans’ facility.
In 2018, my wife and I brought home Lucy, a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who Jack took to immediately. A year later, Jack passed away after years of providing comfort to veterans. I have carried on our mission, and soon Lucy will be ready to help others in need. Doing something useful and being able to do it with your dog? It doesn’t get better than that.
Soldier’s Best Friend is an Arizona- based nonprofit that provides U.S. military veterans with therapy dogs, most of which are rescued from local shelters. For more information, visit soldiersbestfriend.org.
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