The News (New Glasgow)

Making a difference

New Glasgow veteran getting support for PTSD, health issues from service dog.

- BY ADAM MACINNIS

Jacket off, Milo is a fun-loving, 14-month-old German shepherd. Jacket on, he’s all duty.

New Glasgow resident Ron Wray suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the military, has severe arthritis, which impacts his mobility and also has diabetes. But since Milo came into his life about two weeks ago, he has someone to help with all of those issues.

Already, Wray has experience­d a difference. Within the first two weeks of having him, Milo had already alerted him twice that his sugars were low. Milo can detect this by licking Wray’s hand or smelling his breath.

“The first time it happened, I was actually still in bed and he woke me up from a dead sleep. My sugars were down to 2.6,” Wray said.

If he is having trouble getting up because of his arthritis, Milo has been trained to offer assistance. Wray is able to grab a special harness that Milo wears to pull himself up.

As for his PTSD symptoms, Milo provides comfort and security.

“A couple (of the) biggest issues for me is going out in public. I don’t do that well. I don’t do nighttime and dark.”

A long road

The process of pairing the two began almost two and a half years ago — over a year before Milo was even born. Wray applied for the dog through an organizati­on called Paws Fur Thought, which helps provide service dogs to those who have served in the military or as first responders and suffer from PTSD. The program is run by volunteers and operates through donations. The Royal Canadian Legion is one of the biggest contributo­rs and a portion of the poppy campaign funds from legions are allocated toward the organizati­on. The Trenton Legion, of which Wray is a member, also contribute­d directly to help Wray by providing money to help cover expenses associated with the dog, such as a kennel and veterinary costs.

Milo’s journey began south of the border, in Kansas. For the first six months of his life, he actually lived in a jail, paired with an inmate. A program in that state allows inmates to train service dogs in the basics, like going to the bathroom.

From there, the dogs then go to a foster home for six months before being sent to a training facility operated by CARES to be specifical­ly trained for the needs of the person they will be paired with. In Milo’s case, he was specifical­ly trained to meet the needs that Wray had.

For his part, Wray had to go through a background screening and talk to the organizati­on about his specific requiremen­ts. Then he flew to Kansas for a week where he and Milo spent the entire time — day and night — together at the training facility.

“First thing Monday morning, you get introduced to your dog and the training starts. The dog stays with you the whole week.”

All week, Milo wore the vest. All week, he was on duty.

“What I found when I first got him is he was like a robot,” he said. “He had no personalit­y or anything. It was just like, ‘What do you want me to do?’”

Slowly, though, as the week progressed, he saw the personalit­y come out and the bond began to develop.

Strong bond

Now that he has Milo home, Wray is trying to find a balance of when to have Milo on-duty and when to have him off-duty. So far, he’s really pleased with how it’s all worked out and loves the companions­hip of the dog and his loyalty.

“They give you so much and they ask for so little.”

He hopes that by telling his story that other veterans who have PTSD or other disabiliti­es will be encouraged to reach out to their local legion or Paws Fur Thought to find out more.

Heidi Boyles, president of the Trenton Legion, said the legion was happy to be able to help make this happen in Wray’s situation.

“If it wasn’t for our veterans we wouldn’t be here. We have them to thank for our freedom.”

She hopes that knowledge that funds go to help veterans like Wray will encourage area residents to donate to this year’s poppy campaign so the legion can continue to offer support through programs like this one.

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 ?? ADAM MACINNIS/THE NEWS ?? Trenton Legion president Heidi Boyles said the legion was happy to be able to help with the process of getting a service dog for Ron Wray. They are pictured here with Milo, a German shepherd that has been trained to help Wray with PTSD, mobility and to alert him when his blood sugar is low.
ADAM MACINNIS/THE NEWS Trenton Legion president Heidi Boyles said the legion was happy to be able to help with the process of getting a service dog for Ron Wray. They are pictured here with Milo, a German shepherd that has been trained to help Wray with PTSD, mobility and to alert him when his blood sugar is low.

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