by Lucie Roy
Ret’d Medric Cousineau, SC, CD poses with his Service Dog, Thai. Cousineau suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was slipping into despair before family and friends put him together with Thai, a service dog trained to deal with PTSD. Since that time he has lost weight, sleeps better at night, is more outgoing and created Paws Fur Thought, a non-profit organization dedicated to the acquisition of trained service dogs to help others with PTSD.
Thai and other service dogs are trained in Intelligent Disobedience Interruptive Behaviour. The dog starts to act up and demand attention when they detect their owner starting to display signs of stress. This breaks his or her thought pattern and makes him focus on the dog. Thai is so good at recognizing Cousineau’s triggers, she often interrupts him before an attack occurs.
See our fill story on the wounded Warriors Weekend by clicking here.
