Success Story

Bob MacPherson, a 30-year Marine who served during multiple conflicts dating back to the Vietnam era, is a recent graduate of our Service Dog Program. Here, he shares about what happened on the fifth night of a ten-day training session spent on our Palmetto campus learning how to work with his new dog.

"On the fifth night, I had a terror dream. For the past two years, they were becoming more frequent, and the panic increasingly severe. During the midst of the nightmare, I awakened with pressure on my chest. Panicking, I shot up in bed while gasping for air and trying to orient myself. I looked to my right and saw a giant dog standing next to me with an intense look on his face. The Big Yella Fella heard me yelling and intervened.

 As I calmed down, with his head on my chest, I matched the rhythm of his breathing and held one of his paws. I could feel his peace flow through me like a gentle prayer. When I woke in the morning, he was in a tight ball next to me. Turning my eyes toward him, the Big Yella Fella raised his head, and suddenly, the longest tongue in all dog-world licked my entire face in one stroke. I knew it was going to be OK."

~Taken from Bob's blog post at www.quietjourney.net