By Ettie Newlands
Assistant Editor
Carolina Forest Chronicle
Diana Ripley and her husband Kim are foster parents...to Bourbon, a four year old German Shepherd mix. She heard Rick Kaplan, founder of Canine Angels, talking about the program at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center where she's a volunteer.
The Ripleys have taken in dogs from shelters three times before, but “this is the first time it's for a purpose,” she says.
The purpose, and the mission of Canine Angels, is to train Bourbon and dogs like him, to be a companion to a veteran, back from Iraq or Afghanistan, who's more than likely suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Bourbon had been at a local shelter for more than a year, brought in after being put out by his family because he came down with heartworms. Two months after treatment, he was well. Kaplan, who rescues dogs from shelters because he just can't help it, has trained more than 2,500 dogs during the last 25 years, and has matched more than 1,000 dogs and veterans nationally. Still in the process of moving to the Grand Strand from New York, Kaplan started the 501 C (3) non-profit Canine Angels locally last fall. His credentials are in order, he's had all the right training and he's a member of all the appropriate canine organizations. None of that is surprising. But what is a surprise is his level of commitment to the program, considering most of the expense has come out of his own pocket.
Kaplan says his goals are three-fold: “To assist disabled veterans in returning to a normal civilian life, and in overcoming the limitations of any disability; to show my sincere appreciation for the sacrifices disabled veterans have made for our safety and freedom; and to save the lives of worthy dogs who have been destined to shelters, and to give them a lifetime purpose of serving their new master, as a united team.”
A rescued dog stays in a foster home up to six or seven months, is trained personally by Kaplan several times a week and by the foster parent continuously. King, a golden retriever Kaplan rescued the day before he was scheduled for euthanasia, has been trained in Kaplan's own home since November.
When Kaplan gives the commands, “Come, take, pull,” the fourteenth month old dog removes Kaplan's jacket. “King can help a vet get undressed, including socks and shoes,” the trainer says. King can also retrieve, carry and put any item where it belongs, making him an ideal companion for a veteran who has an injury or is even wheelchair-bound.
“People with PTSD get great benefit from compassion and companionship,” Kaplan says. “They suffer from irritation, anxiety, loneliness, worthlessness, no self-esteem. It's pretty ugly. A dog is the perfect answer because it provides what no medicine, no drug, not even a family can provide. A dog gives you devotion 24/7.”
“Dogs aren't judgemental,” Diana Ripley says. “They don't know what color you are or how fat or skinny you are.”
Kaplan says during the process of connecting the dog and the vet, “a bond has to be formed to make them become absolutely inseparable. This is the kind of connection that saves the lives of veterans who have PTSD.”
The real issue, Kaplan says, is suicide. Statistics prove, he says, that “while 6,000 soldiers have died in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq, 12,000 have died on American soil by suicide.”
Ironically, when family members and friends tend to veterans, doing tasks for them, that often makes the men and women feel even worse and more aware of their disabilities.
“In PTSD, the lows are so low and the lower you get, the more you feel like a failure,” Kaplan says. “What helps is not the love coming in, it's the love going out. That's the healer. That's the miracle. When somebody needs you, that's when you get up and dust yourself off.”
After the dogs are trained in foster homes, they're matched up with qualified veterans, at no cost to the vet.
Kaplan will go to any group, business, school, club, or organization to explain and demonstrate Canine Angels, and to ask for help. “I've learned not to be proud, “he says. What Kaplan's program needs is money and volunteers willing to be foster parents to the dogs. Kaplan says money, which pays adoption fees and vet bills and buys licenses, harness-type jackets, collars, feeding bowls, and toys, is easier to give.
“Diana is giving her home, her time, her love,” he says about Ripley's fostering of Bourbon. “She's putting her soul into this dog and it'll stay there forever. I need people to give the ultimate gift, which is to say, “I will save a veteran and I will save a dog.”
“It's a commitment,” Ripley says. “Not a lifetime commitment, but a serious commitment.”
T
o help, call Kaplan at 917-575-6235, or e-mail him at rickypiper@aol.com.
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