ON THE COVER Faithful Friends
The support and friendship of his dog Fudge inspired Craig MacLellan to set up a charity to help other Army veterans
Craig MacLellan served his country with the Royal Marines and then with the Army before leaving the forces at the age of 30, worn down by some horrific experiences in Northern Ireland. Five years later, he began to suffer severe and debilitating panic attacks, subsequently diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His wife Chrissie was a strong and constant support to him throughout.
“I am one of the lucky ones,” says Craig. “There’s a saying in the forces that we are the ones that go to war, but our partners are the ones who carry our bergens [military rucksacks].
“The impact on partners and families for those of us who have service-related PTSD and mental health problems is huge and without the support of our partners, our chances of success are so much more diminished.”
Also supporting Craig was his Labrador Fudge, who proved to be an incredibly special force in his life.
“Actually, I wouldn’t be here without her,” explains Craig. “Once, when I was at my lowest of the low, I was out with her on a walk that we did quite regularly and I had thoughts of where I would go and what I would do to take my own life. Just before we reached this place Fudge went completely stiff and she absolutely refused to let me go any further. We had walked there before and many times since and she has never even batted an eyelid. That day we turned and walked away. The reality is that she stopped me taking my life that day.
“Through the Combat Stress charity I was later part of a residential treatment course. Fudge came with me as my support and while we were there it became evident that the other veterans were responding in a really positive way to her presence. In therapy sessions, for example, she would hone in on the person with the most need and go and sit with them.
“Likewise, if one of the guys was in his room having a really bad time, after 10
minutes with Fudge they’d feel that they could come back out again. The guys on the course with me said, ‘You must do something with this, Craig, look at what we have all seen and experienced.’”
The result, after several years of careful research, planning and organisation, is Veterans With Dogs, a charity that trains assistance dogs specifically for British veterans with service-related mental health conditions. The charity has worked with more than 80 veterans to date, spread all over the UK.
“Craig had been asking the question of ‘What happens next?’ for the veterans who were completing these courses. The answer was not a lot, really,” says his wife and charity co-founder Chrissie, who now organises fundraising events and give talks about their work to groups and schools around the charity HQ in Devon. “Establishing the charity has been a huge amount of work because it has to be done absolutely properly.”
Fudge was retired at the age of nine and remains a much-loved member of the family. Yellow Labrador Boo has been trained to help Craig since she was a puppy.
“Boo and her training became the blueprint for everything we do with the charity,” says Craig. “She wakes me from nightmares,
she reminds me to take my medication and she jumps up at me or tugs at my clothes when I start dissociating, which helps to break my train of thought and calms me down. She doesn’t relent until I focus on her. It is a perfect grounding tool. The dogs are trained to pick up on variations in their handler’s baseline behaviours and they also pick up on our internal physiology too, very similar to medical detection dogs.
“We have a list of veterans who are waiting for dogs to complete their rigorous training by our excellent training team. There is also
an individual programme of education with our veterans to develop the all-important bond between them and the dog, plus workshops, seminars and residential activities too.
“The world of animalassisted interventions is growing exponentially. There is phenomenal potential. The benefits of what we do don’t stop with the veteran, it passes on to their partners and children and so on, too. Where a wife or partner might have become a carer, the dog takes a share of the responsibility and improves their wellbeing too.
“Being able to help fellow veterans in this way, having experienced myself what they are going through – well, it means the world to me.”
“The reality is that she stopped me taking my life that day”