Paul Manners, Juli Rae Radloff, Brian Hall & Dozer– three people (and one dog) involved with a href=”http://www.pitbulls4patriots.org/”>Pit Bulls 4 Patriots–discuss this Gulfport, FL-based program that pairs veterans suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with rescued pit bulls, in a poignant intersection of healing & hope.
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Paul Manners, who founded the organization, explains the human and canine factors that led to its launch, and also describes how the program works, including the extensive training of dogs and vets.
Brian Hall, with his handsome pit, Dozer, at his side (he goes everywhere with Brian) recounts some details of his military service, and what life was like upon returning home as a wounded soldier–and outlines the ways that Dozer helps him, from comforting Brian when he’s anxious or down, assisting him navigate through otherwise uncomfortable settings with large crowds, waking him up when Dozer can tell Brian’s experiencing a nightmare.
Juli Rae Radloff responds to an e-mail sent to the studio suggesting that pit bulls are justly maligned and deserve their bad rap for all the attacks they’ve committed, addresses the fallacies of this thinking while noting how much breeding as well as the training and treatment of any dog, including pit bulls, shapes their behaviors.
Paul, Brian and Juli Rae also observe that they are unable to take in pit bulls that people are trying to place (currently, all pits in their program come from Hillsborough County Animal Services), they welcome donations as a non-profit that receives no funding, and are seeking the use of an indoor location at which they could conduct their training sessions. (PitBulls4Patriots.org)
See video clips of this conversation at the Talking Animals YouTube channel here
COMEDY CORNER: Dave Attell’s “Parrot” (www.DaveAttell.com)
MUSIC: Loudon Wainwright’s “Animal Song,” Lauris Vidal’s version of “Queen Bee,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: Iggy & The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog”
