ASSISTANCE dogs were the topic at the last April meeting at The Combined Probus Club of Whittlesea that introduced a black English Labrador named Lola, with her companion Andrew Hall who is a retired army warrant officer that served for 27 years.
Mr Hall, who is the Montmorency Eltham RSL Sub-Branch senior vice president and welfare officer, acted as Lola’s interpreter while the club learnt about assistant dogs.
Most attendees at the meeting were known to Guide Dogs that help the visually impaired or hearing dogs, but service dogs like Lola are trained for people with stress related illnesses, specifically veterans like Mr Hall who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
At the meeting, Mr Hall briefly went into details of his service in combat service and how he was not aware of his PTSD that caused him to medically retire.
Lola and Mr Hall met at the Dogs for Life training, which is one of the dog training providers contracted to help the Department of Veteran Affairs assist veterans nationally.
After years of training from the Department of Veteran Affairs Psychiatric Assistance Dog program, Lola has helped Mr Hall become more active and can detect when he is stressed while sleeping.
It was discovered at the meeting that eight to ten years is the anticipated active life, and the retired dog remains with the family.
Mr Hall explained that he does not know whether he will need a companion after Lola retires but was keen that her assistance has changed his life, including the quality of his wife’s life who was previously his carer.
Towards the end of the meeting, the speaker coordinator Teresa Carlin gave Lola and Mr Hall a gift each.
