Mother of autistic child reflects on first month with service dog
Marshall County Tribune: Story: A puppy for Brody
Cathy Thompson, 12-13-07 -
The dawn of a new day. My story starts like many others do, I guess, I found myself one day going
down a road I had never imagined for myself. I was turning 60 and had several years with some new
health problems. Most of my life I had been blessed with good health, just your run of the mill
problems we all face from time to time. But things started to change in my 50's. And no one seemed
to have any answers for me. God in His mercy brought me through cervical cancer, thyroid problems,
etc; but the one unresolved problem kept my round of Dr.'s visits and tests going. Finally the day arrived
after one of those usually unresolved visits came the answer...Parkinson's. Ok, after long hours of research,
and tons of questions, most of which go unresolved until time goes by, I realize this is one of those things I
had little, if no, control over. After my mind finally got the idea...this one is not going away, the only thing I
knew for sure was my life was going to be forever changed.
The one bright spot in my life was a daughter who had always stuck by me through thick and thin. I was living
in N.M. at the time and she always knew of my great love for dogs, and found their was an organization in that
state which trainees service dogs for people like myself. I spent seven months of filling out forms, and rounds of
visits to a wonderful group of people helping me find the right companion for me. But before the final match could
be made that same superior daughter invited me to come and live with her and her family in TN.
While still in N.M. she sent me the name of a group of people here in TN. that would do the same thing for me here.
After one phone call to Wilderwood, and speaking with their president and owner, Tiffany Danyer, I found out that my
dreams of not loosing my independence did not have to come to an end. Not only that she felt sure, after reviewing
my paper work, she had someone who filled all my requirements, he just needed to be find tuned for my special needs.
I am speaking of my new companion in this life, my service dog. A silly,loving, friendly... now two year old black lab. We are now
starting down a "Great" new life together. He is already giving me more then I have given him. The future does not now
hold all those dark little corners that had become my future. With him by my side we face "that bright new day". We
may stumble along the way, but we have one another to look to.
Mary S., Maryville, TN -
"Ben" is my daughter's service dog from Wilderwood. The changes in her life
since acquiring Ben, are invaluable. The interaction between these two has given Noelle new incentive to work at overcoming the speech impediment and people are noticing that she's become more confident with verbalizing in just a short time. She is learning how to handle the blessing of making new friends through "team work" with Ben almost every time she goes out of the house. Tiffany Denyer's very unusual mix of patience, skill, compassion, and an amazing insight into the unspoken needs of the service dog AND the individual with neurological impairment, has been the key to Noelle having a whole new world open up with Ben as her "other half".
John Stiles, Louisville, TN -
I'd like to comment on the remarkable work done by Wilderwood Lead Dogs of Blount County, Tennessee. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Among the problems created by the disease are a tendency to fall, and the inability of the patient to carry out certain maneuvers. It was during the early stages that a friend gave me a book entitled "Angel by My Side." It is the true story of a man with a heart condition whose life is turned around by the services of a "service" dog. As a longtime dog lover, I decided to try and train one of my border collies for the task. Abby, a 6-year-old female, is my Frisbee competition dog. She knows basic obedience and is open to learning new things. I decided Abby would become a "working" rather than "playing" dog. My wife and I read articles on the Internet about how to train a service dog. Abby was perplexed by our new commands. We were not getting anywhere. A dog trainer gave me a brochure about Wilderwood, and added she knew nothing about the organization. We contacted Tiffany Denyer, director, who explained her training program. She added she is a psychiatric nurse, and deals with service dogs for people "with problems of the brain." Parkinson's is such a problem. Ms. Denyer came to our home and explained the program. She was patient and thorough, and not put off by our many questions. We signed up for a month-long plan, with training in our home two days a week. Commands we had never learned to teach, Ms. Denyer taught in minutes. Furthermore, she had the insight to teach Abby commands that benefited my particular problem. To me that action was critical. Another trainer could have taught Abby to "go get the phone," but they would not have understood my specific needs. We plan to continue Abby's (and our) training in the near future. In one month Abby learned to pick up dropped objects (keys, etc.), open and close doors, bring me the phone, and alert my wife that I had fallen. In addition she taught us to "think like a dog," rather than try and change Abby to a human's way of thinking.
Letter from Loran Moyers -
Hello everyone, I am the Assistant Trainer and Kennel manager
for Wilderwood Service Dogs.
I have debilitating arthritis in all my joints and at times
I feel more than twice my age. Getting up and down and facing
my day is a challenge and sometimes very depressing. About three
years ago, I rescued a beautiful, big Golden Retriever named
Hope. I knew immediately she was a working girl in the raw, so
I set out training her. That was the beginning of Hope’s
rescue and training. I had trained a few hearing assist canines
in the early seventies and had also been working with a blind
woman who had a great service dog, and together we started basic
training classes at the YMCA for fun. If she could train her
own service animal I thought, then so could I. I went on line
and started researching everything that I could find on service
dogs; all federal and state requirements, training schools, everything!
Meanwhile, my dog Hope filled my days with love and joy; she
could make the pain melt into the background with her loving
eyes and bounce. With the help I needed getting up and down and
walking steps, I thought a service dog would be so much nicer
than a walker or a lift chair. I am in my early fifties and do
not wish to look quite as old as I feel. Hope was the answer!
She learned so quickly and was always ready for whatever the
day brought. She learned to brace and pull me up as though she
knew that was her sole reason to be here was just for me. My
dog Hope was and is emotionally uplifting. I knew then that the
bond between a service dog and their handler could not be beat
or duplicated by anything on earth.
Dogs, Dogs, Dogs! They know if you do not feel well and they
will give you a nuzzle and try their best to cheer you up. Dogs
know when you have a pain and will lick you to make you better.
If you are blue and down, they will do anything they can think
of to cheer you up, their love is unconditional and eternal.
Dogs will love you until the day they die.
I was introduced to Tiffany and Wilderwood Service Dogs through
a mutual friend. What a great opportunity awaiting me to fulfill
my passion. A company that rescues dogs, works with at risk youths,
and places the dogs with wonderful people who, like me, have
disabilities! I went through Wilderwood orientation and started
helping her train the service animals that were donated to Wilderwood
Service Dogs. I discovered that I could train even if I felt
bad, so my journey began with Wilderwood Service Dogs. Now Wilderwood
Service Dogs is a growing company and I am part of the team.
We use Hope as a personal representative for our company. Hope
loves to get out with people and drum up support for this cause.
Now I am going to be on site all the time with the kennels and
all the babies who will start the journey of becoming a service
partner for a very wonderful person. Our dogs will learn to be
all they can be for that person, helping the clients to be all
they can be. I cannot think of a better job for our dogs or myself.
So when you see my big red girl, Hope, and me out in public,
we are showing the world we are a team. Hope and I want everyone’s
support so that more teams can go out and enjoy their lives,
their job, their play, and their world.
Check out the rest of our web site and when you see our donate
button, let God’s love show through you and your ability
to help this wonderful program.
Letter from the President -
Hello everyone, my name is Tiffany and I'm the president of Wilderwood. This organization was born out of dreams, sweat and tears, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
We opened our doors in Maryville, TN on August 1st 2005. We are looking forward to starting our first High School program in the spring of 2006. In a few short months we have built our kennels and office, began training our first service dogs and currently have several contracts with clients with disabilities. We are finishing up our first fundraiser and are having a Christmas Party December 9th. Feewww!
I am a psychiatric nurse by trade and have been involved in psych
care and nursing for 11 years. I have seen a lot of treatment
modalities in that time. I have given a lot of medication. I deal
daily with brain trauma, autism, emotional illness, dementia,
and Alzheimer. I have also been involved with dogs since childhood.
I have trained dogs in obedience, animal assisted therapy and
service dog work. Wilderwood is an outgrowth of those life experiences.
In all my experience I have never seen anything, and I can safely
say ANYTHING that has been more therapeutic than animal/human
interaction. What happens to a person's soul and then their perception
in the presence of a beloved animal is far reaching. That relationship
impacts a person's life more than a therapist, medicine, treatment
programs or all of them combined, in that reality, Wilderwood
finds its passion.
Our dogs help individuals gain independence (emotional and physical). Our dogs
provide unconditional love and support. They assist in all facets
of life such as: retrieval of anything (including meds), opening
doors, turning on lights, support during a crisis, able to call
for emergency assistance and much more. We are excited to be a
part of something so wonderful.
Wilderwood also has an at-risk teen outreach program. We teach teens to train
service dogs! It is a remarkable program and the kids and dogs
love it. We are happy to be here, happy you came to visit our
site and are expectant of great things for and from our organization.
Continue to visit us for ongoing updates and new client testimonials
on this page. Thank you and have a great day.
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