{"id":9895,"date":"2019-03-13T14:05:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T17:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=9895"},"modified":"2019-03-13T14:05:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T17:05:52","slug":"giving-ptsd-sufferers-a-second-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=9895","title":{"rendered":"Giving PTSD sufferers a second Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FALL RIVER: <\/strong>John Stewart is helping to give a First Responder a second Chance at life through being a puppy raiser with the Canadian Intervention and Assistance Dogs (CIAD).<\/p>\n

Stewart and his wife are \u201cpuppy raisers\u201d for Chance, who will be paired with a first responder that could use his help. First, will be a training for 12-18 months before he goes to that responder.<\/p>\n

Stewart, of Fall River, knows the help a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) service dog like Chance can be after doing 36 years in the Navy and 12 years as a firefighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a couple of people that have PTSD, the extent of the injury, so raising Chance was right up my alley,\u201d said Stewart.<\/p>\n

VIDEO: John talks about Chance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He found out through a post on Facebook that CIAD was looking for puppy raisers. After doing some research, he was game to become one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love dogs, I have had dogs for more than 30 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chance eyes John who has a treat in his hand. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stewart said it\u2019s been interesting having Chance. They have a four-year-old dog at home, and there are times they don\u2019t get along.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be very time consuming too,\u201d he said. \u201cThe training takes a lot of time, but Chance is smart and he picks it up quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stewart\u2019s have had Chance since he was about 10 weeks old. He is now six-and-a-half months.<\/p>\n

CIAD is a N.S.-based group that is about two years old. They raise dogs for first responders with PTSD (firefighters; police; and Paramedics). They will be looking at getting started with a program aimed at assisting Veterans.<\/p>\n

People can donate to CIAD online, said Stewart.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been very welcomed in the Fall River area, with businesses like Tim Hortons and Sobeys not flinching an eye as he walks the aisle, service dog vest on and all, with Stewart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go shopping and people are used to him,\u201d he said. \u201cThey love seeing me in there walking with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had him into Kent, and they said anytime I want to bring him in for training I\u2019m more than welcome to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chance\u2019s name couldn\u2019t be more fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the reason for raising him,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cThey\u2019ve told me there\u2019s a good chance I\u2019ll get to meet the person that is getting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to just give back to others with PTSD.\u201d<\/p>\n

PHOTO: John Stewart of Fall River is raising Chance, who will be paired with a first responder from Emergency Health Services (EHS) that could use his help. Chance is a puppy with CIAD, and Stewart is a volunteer puppy raiser with the N.S.-based group. Chance is welcomed at locations such as the Fall River Tim Hortons. (Healey photo)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FALL RIVER: John Stewart is helping to give a First Responder a second Chance at life through being a puppy raiser with the Canadian Intervention and Assistance Dogs (CIAD). Stewart and his wife are \u201cpuppy raisers\u201d for Chance, who will be paired with a first responder that could use his help. First, will be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[373,374,375,2,376,48,377],"class_list":["post-9895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-chance","tag-ciad","tag-ehs","tag-fall-river","tag-first-responder","tag-n-s","tag-paramedics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}