Homeless Dogs Help Healing Troops
(November 23, 2009) |
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Army Capt. Lawrence Minnis sits with his two adopted pit bulls at the Washington Humane Society's Behavior and Learning Center, Nov. 12, 2009. Minnis met the dogs through the humane society's Dog Tags program, in which soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center sign up to help teach animals housed at the shelter learn how to behave. |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2009 – Lawrence Minnis
never met a dog he didn't like.
“I want just about every dog I see,” the Army
captain said with a laugh.
Minnis is especially fond of pit bulls, and he
somewhat resembles his favorite breed --
broad-shouldered, stocky and muscular. He sat on
the floor in the back of a classroom at a
Washington Humane Society shelter here recently,
stroking his adopted black pit bull, Ebony.
As happy and healthy as the two appear now, they
met when they were both on the mend – Minnis
from a near-crippling infection and Ebony from
nearly starving and freezing to death. The two
shared a companionship that helped them heal and
ultimately altered the course of their lives. |
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Minnis met Ebony through the Humane Society's Dog Tags
program in which soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center sign up to help the shelter dogs learn to
behave. It's a program in which everyone benefits, officials
said; the soldiers get out of the hospital and learn to care
for and train the dogs, and the dogs learn better behavior,
making them more adoptable.
“They're really loving those relationships with the
animals,” said Diana Foley, behavior and training counselor
with the Humane Society. “It gives them a way to get away
from Walter Reed. They can come here and interact with the
animals.”
The program began simply enough more than a year ago. The
shelter is located just across the street from the Walter
Reed campus. Soldiers out walking would come across shelter
staff members walking the dogs. They would stop and pet the
dogs and seemed to enjoy getting to know them. Officials at
the shelter had the idea to hook the two together through a
training program for the troops and the dogs.
The society now offers two classes weekly that teach
soldiers about dog behavior and training. Troops filter
through the Georgia Avenue shelter learning the basics of
dog behavior and how to read dog body language and train the
dogs. The mix of hands-on and classroom training offers the
troops enough expertise that they can use the skills as a
launching pad for a career.
“We want the program to be educational so that if there are
servicemembers in the program that want to potentially
pursue this as a career, ... they're getting as much
information as possible and as much hands-on time as
possible with the dogs,” Foley said. “We also want it to be
recreational, too, for people who ... just love animals and
like spending time with the dogs.”
The six-month program is split into three levels, ranging
from beginner to advanced. In the beginner class, troops
learn basic animal body language and obedience commands such
as “sit” and “stay.” In the advanced classes, troops learn
to evaluate the dogs' temperament and how to begin working
with aggression issues and separation anxiety.
The skills the dogs learn in the classes translate to better
placement opportunities, Foley said. The program has far
expanded the amount of training the shelter's dogs received
previously.
“This is another way our dogs are outside of their kennels
being talked to and touched and interacting with people,”
she said. “That's extremely beneficial to reduce the stress
levels of the animals in our kennels, and at the same time,
it makes the animals far more successful in their new homes
if they come into it with some basic obedience training.”
But for all of the good it is for the dogs, it is equally
beneficial for the recovering troops, Foley said.
“It's really just an outlet to be social with people and
social with the animals and have time away from the
hospital,” she said.
Foley described one soldier who came to the class who was
having difficulty interacting with people. He didn't make
eye contact and kept to himself. Working with the dogs built
his confidence and helped to bridge his shyness with the
staff.
“It really helped him develop social relationships with
people,” Foley said. “He went from being a very, very shy
person when he first entered. [Now] he's totally not that
same shy person that he came into the program being.”
Some of the dogs are at the shelter for a few months, and
many of the soldiers develop close relationships with them.
Others develop friendships with the staff. Some soldiers
remain on as volunteers at the shelter long after the
classes end, Foley said. Minnis continues to work with the
shelter.
After a viral infection in his brain stem left him
temporarily unable to walk and barely able to talk, the Army
officer found himself recovering at Walter Reed. He was
deployed to Iraq at the start of a promising Army career
when he got sick. At Walter Reed, he found out he couldn't
deploy again.
In May 2008, his occupational therapist recommended him to
the Dog Tags program. Minnis said he had wanted to get a dog
for a pet anyway, so he thought it would be a good
opportunity to learn a few skills. The shelter had several
of his favorite breed on hand, and the dogs were good
companions and good for his physical therapy.
“It helped me while I was still trying to walk, being
active, having to walk around with the dog. [During
training], I'm not focused on me having balance issues or
[not] being able to speak. I'm concentrating on what I need
to do to train the dog,” Minnis said. “It takes the focus
completely off of me and puts it on the dog and what we're
doing.”
But Minnis' interests soon expanded, and often he would
visit the shelter just to sit and play with the dogs. He
said it was his quiet time.
“You don't have anybody asking you what's going on. You
don't feel a threat. It's a just a dog to bond with and have
fun with,” he said.
As it looked more like he would be medically retired, Minnis
said the training took on a different perspective. He was a
business major in college, and always wanted to be an
entrepreneur. He figured a dog training business would be
easy to start and not require a lot of money or overhead.
“I figured it's a perfect opportunity,” he said. “I get to
learn how to train [and] have a business I can work on, or
at least a side business.”
Minnis eventually adopted Ebony, one of his favorite dogs.
The two now regularly attend the shelter classes, helping to
train others on animal behavior. Minnis also takes Ebony to
the Metropolitan Police Department when he speaks to cadets
going through training there, noting that he hopes to cast a
more positive light on a breed that has captured a lot of
negative attention.
He teaches the cadets to read a dog's body language so they
can tell when there is a real threat.
“I would take her with me ... so they can get used to seeing a
pit bull that's not what they see on TV,” Minnis said.
“Often, officers don't really know if the dog is friendly,
scared or ready to attack.”
In fact, Ebony is one of the friendliest dogs the cadets
will meet, he said -- friendly enough that he felt
comfortable bringing her home to his two small boys.
“It's never about the breed. It's about who owns them and
how well you train them and the structure you have around
them,” Minnis said. “From Day One, she was perfect around my
kids. She respected them.”
In the end, though, it is not a dog-training business that
Minnis decided to pursue. It is, however, what he learned
from the lessons during the training and while working with
the dogs that led to what he hopes is a promising career.
During the training, Minnis said, he began pondering how
leadership principles in dog training are the same as with
dealing with people.
“Dogs are pack creatures. Humans are pack creatures. It's
the same leadership,” he said. “It's not about a title, or
in our case in the military, your rank, that makes you a
leader. It's if you're doing the natural things that make
you a leader in your pack.”
Now Minnis is researching and writing a book on the
principles of leadership and packaging a presentation
targeting businesses, the military and government. He
already has given a few presentations on his theories, and
is refining and expanding on them.
Minnis still is a few weeks away from his medical
retirement, and is working to get back to 100 percent. He
has joined a gym, started jogging, and adopted another pit
bull from the shelter named Nina.
Between working on his recovery and his book, Minnis said,
he hopes to help the humane society expand the Dog Tags
program. It is worthy, he said, of reaching beyond the
Capital Beltway and out to other active duty installations.
“Anywhere you go, there are going to be dogs that need
training and soldiers who are going through some type of
therapy that will benefit from it,” he said. “I want to make
sure that's going to be able to expand and reach out to a
lot more soldiers. It's a great program.” | |
Article and
photo by
Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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