The feel-good story of the day comes out of our nation's capital courtesy of the Washington Humane Society (WHS). Seems that Lisa LaFontaine, the President and CEO of WHS, heard that volunteer dog-walkers and wounded service members from Walter Reed Hospital, a few blocks away, were meeting and seemed to be making a connection.
Ms. LaFontaine created a program so that wounded service members could take courses in dog training and behavior offered by the WHS. In addition to the courses providing a foundation for a career working with dogs, spending time with the animals was therapeutic to the wounded soldiers in and of itself. Not only that, but the doges get a break from shelter life, and with caring soldiers training the dogs and teaching them appropriate behavior, the dogs become more readily adoptable. A win-win-win for the Shelter, the dogs, and our wounded military.
The program now has a waiting list, and Kevin Simpson, the Training Director, says that students come early and stay late. One of the students stated that being with the dogs has a claming effect and helps keep her mind off "the crummy things in life."
Let's hear it for our military, our dogs, the Washington Humane Society, and Lisa LaFontaine.
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