Last updated: 22 Jul, 2019
Published on: 18 Apr, 2018
Clever Elsa doesn’t just retrieve, she brings joy.
Clever Elsa doesn’t just retrieve, she brings joy.
Starting life as a rescue pup in Victoria, Elsa’s now helping a young veteran with PTSD to lead an independent life in North Queensland.
As a puppy, Elsa was extremely calm, very sociable and bonded well with everyone she met,” said Liz, co-founder of Whiskey’s Wish - an organisation dedicated to training service dogs. “Elsa had a beautiful placid manner, was very good at picking up objects and her general obedience was exceptional at such a young age. This made her a perfect fit for a young veteran who suffers with debilitating anxiety and hypervigilance and needed the comfort, security and support that only a service dog can provide.
Elsa was in the care of Best Friends Rescue, who very kindly donated her to Whiskey's Wish for service dog training. A generous act that Elsa's veteran has been grateful for every day, having Elsa by his side.
“Not long after I brought Elsa home, she helped me when I had a dissociation episode. She kept nudging me to help ground me and to bring me out of the episode. In that moment I felt relief to have someone to bring me back,” Elsa’s veteran recalls. “With Elsa, I'm able to go out by myself without the need for a carer to be with me. She's really helped me to function more normally and lead an independent in life.”
For Elsa to provide such vital assistance, it takes lots of training which will be ongoing, with the help of the amazing team at Whiskey's Wish.
“Elsa’s initial training was at puppy school for four weeks, followed by six weeks of general obedience classes,” Liz explained. “After that, she came to Whiskey’s Wish for another six weeks of public access training with one of our committee volunteers. We then took her to the veteran’s home and trained with them for four days.”
“I remember her coming through the door with the biggest wag in her tail,” Elsa’s veteran recalled. “And the most satisfying moment in getting to know Elsa was when she started to wake me up in the mornings by placing her head on my side and nudging me to get up. I felt happy to have her there.”
But their training doesn’t end there. Their journey continues with more great support from Whiskey’s Wish.
“All the recipients in our program remain connected with us!” Liz says. “They constantly log into the training program we provide, do scheduled homework for training and link in for support with other recipients and trainers at their own pace.”
“We now have around 70 recipients, and counting. In the past year, we’ve also included correctional officers with PTSD in our program, and had nine of our recipients with their dogs pass the full accreditation Public Access Test to earn their blue jacket,” said Liz.
Whiskey’s Wish is a wonderful organisation providing dogs and training for veterans, first responders and correctional officers who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and service related injuries. If you’d like to find out more about the program, please visit the Whiskey’s Wish website or email info@whiskeyswish.org.au
If you are a PetRescue-registered rescue group, and would like to support the program by supplying rescue dogs for training, please contact PetRescue via info@petrescue.org.au