Great Danes Help People With Balance and Mobility
Protective pooches can aid a wide-variety of individuals with disabilities, including loss of vision and anxiety. But many people don’t realize that some pups are helpers for those who can’t walk very well either.
As reported by the Boston Globe, Becky Spencer, 39, is an Army National Guard veteran walks around town with her giant canine companion Stanley. Stanley is a 165-pound, 5-foot-long Great Dane whose large size makes him an ideal candidate to assist Spencer with walking. In her two decades of service, Spencer received multiple injuries in a Humvee accident in Iraq. The veteran now suffers from conditions that can cause seizures, emotional distress or falls.
Stanley is a part of the Great Dane Service Dog Project along with about 60 other pooches who help aid individuals with stability and balance issues. He and other dogs in the organization are trained to walk alongside their owners, whether its in short, slow steps or at a more brisk pace. They are also taught to take a “brace position” if an owner falls or needs to steady themselves. Because of their large size and human-waist height, owners can get a good grasp and bring themselves back up to standing.
“The dogs are like a sturdy walker — the walkers can go up and over if a person falls backward, but you just hang on to a 140-pound dog and don’t go anywhere,” Charlene White, president and head dog trainer told the Boston Globe.
About the Organization
The Service Dog Project has donated more than 45 Great Danes as service dogs for people with Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Friedreich’s Ataxia as well as veterans and children. The organization is based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on a 12-acre farm with heated kennels, large fields and plenty of land for the training pooches to frolic. Service Dog Project is fully accredited by Assistance Dogs International and is a registered 501c3.
White has a background in training animals, running Animal Episodes for 30 years where she trained four-legged actors for print ads, television and movies. After a Great Dane jumped her fence and bred 23 puppies with three of her female Danes, her mission shifted. She gave one dog to her father with Parkinson’s and another to a friend with multiple sclerosis because the dogs like to lean against humans, naturally acting as a support. It was then that she began to train them.
“She has opened up a world for us which other people take for granted,” Stephanie Wilbur, whose husband is a Gulf War Marine veteran with progressive medical conditions, wrote in an email. “The whole family was virtually isolated. Our situation was difficult to explain and very difficult to deal with. Now because of Indy, we go out to eat in some restaurants, go to movies and even the grocery store and mall on occasion. She has given us wings.”
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