Christ Yoder
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KINGMAN — Firefighters are often seen as heroes by the public as they put their lives on the line for the community every day. Because their work is so heavy, a support paw is sometimes brought in to help ease the anxiety that comes with such a demanding profession.
Mohave County Animal Shelter has partnered for years with the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation, whose goal is to expand service dog programs for veterans and first responders. While the early partnership had no shortage of shelter animals in Mohave County for local veterans, they are now increasingly being sent to fire departments to assist first responders.
“We’ve started supplying service dogs, peer support dogs, to fire departments over the past few years,” said Tom Tackett of the foundation and president of Tackett Service Dogs. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
Tackett said the foundation now has dogs working with Los Angeles City and County firefighters. There are also dogs with fire agencies in Sacramento and Anaheim, and several other agencies are also looking to get involved.
“It’s essentially the same in every way, except that service dogs perform tasks that mitigate the handlers’ disability,” Tackett said of providing support animals as opposed to service. . “Our peer support dogs are also highly trained, but they don’t perform tasks because it’s not their job.”
Instead, these animals emotionally help first responders during critical incidents. For example, the 2020 Bobcat Fire in California’s Angeles National Forest resulted in the death of smoke jumpers, who are specially trained wildland firefighters who drop into fires to provide an initial attack in the remote areas.
“When the rest of the team got back to base camp, they called Echo, a support dog for the LA County Fire Department,” Tackett said. “These guys came in very upset and frustrated, really sorry that one of their brothers had been killed. They came in and didn’t want to talk to anyone. So Echo was let go and she ran off; they were on the floor trying to hug her and cry over her, just to let him hang out with Echo.
Animal handlers are also trained in counseling, which Tackett says opens the door for first responders to release their frustration and anger.
“The dog comes in and breaks down the barriers of these macho men and women,” Tackett said. “The cumulative trauma, which these men and women face, accumulates where it can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and frustration. We find that dogs help more than anything. The advice is great and needed, but the dogs open that barrier and break it down until these men and women talk about those experiences and release some of that pressure.
While dogs come from all over the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation, four from the Mohave County Animal Shelter were recently brought into the program, one of whom is already on the job.
This dog is named Kingman and is already on the job as a peer-certified support dog for the Huntington Beach Fire Department. Kingman had the qualities the foundation sought, including being friendly, assertive, and non-aggressive.
“We usually have an immediate impression when a dog comes in regarding the attributes most sought after for those jobs,” said Nicole Mangiameli, manager of the shelter. “When they walk through the doors and they’re beyond friendly, and there are other dogs nearby and we can see they’re not aggressive towards other dogs and they don’t fear .”
According to Tackett, not a single veteran who received an animal through the foundation has committed suicide, coinciding with the foundation’s motto “22 to zero”, referring to how 22 veterans commit suicide. every day. With Tackett saying more firefighters die by suicide than on the job, the hope is for an outcome similar to that achieved with veterans.
“It’s extremely rewarding to see our dogs in action who have gone from homeless to happy and are now changing lives,” Mangiameli said. “Literally changing lives.”
