Breed wise I love pits.
Individual dogs though...I have to hand it to my little aussie shepherd/pit mix. She is 47 lbs of awesomeness.Thanks to my vacation in Iraq I struggle with ptsd, a traumatic brain injury, and some hearing damage. But, she can tell before I can that I am going to get a panic attack or a migraine. She alerts differently on each of those. She also wakes me from nightmares. She lets me know when someone is at the door. She can find the car when I can't even remember what parking deck I parked in or my fiancee or anyone else we know in a store/public situation. Plus, not only does she remember where my classes (in college) are she remembers the order we go to them. She "checks my corners" as we go anywhere and alerts me to people/noises/squirrels
around. In many situations she is my social bridge linking me to the general population. Without her I couldn't go to the store alone, I couldn't go to school, movies, out in public at all. In fact I can honestly say that without her I wouldnt be here. Because of her though I live a rich full life.
She was found at a construction site as a beat up bait dog in Jan. 2008 by a friend of mine. He was going through a divorce and couldn't keep her so we (my fiancee/gf at the time, brother, and I) took her. She naturally and instantly fell into the behaviors of assisting me. With her help I could leave the house again freely without worry. In August of 2008 I took her into the Veterans Administration and they spent a few hours with her. That afternoon they made her officially my service dog.
Here is Daizy Mae:
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That last one is of her at the NC aquarium at Ft. Fisher.![]()
Doc, that is the AWESOMEST story that I've heard in a long time! I'd picked up that Daizy Mae was your service dog from other threads, but her/your story and her natural instincts to help you are just AWESOME!
Thank you for your service, and thank you Daizy Mae for your service. PS I love her Ghost Eye too!
For me, I've always just loved mutts... I have a very loving beautiful ENERGETIC border collie/aussie cattledog mix now. He is the bomb and the first dog I've ever had to play catch naturally,
Shelby:


Waiting patiently (kinda) while I put on my shoes for his walk:
