Posted by Douglas Fisher on Saturday, September 24, 2016 in News.

For the past three weekends our Faculty Director, Dr. Doug Fisher, has hosted community dinners in his apartment. All students are welcome to attend and are met with good conversation, good food, and a special guest. On September 11th students were greeted with by a wagging tail rather than a handshake. Our special guest that week, Dr. Brenda Dew, brought along one of her retired service dogs, Charlie.

Dr. Dew spear heads an organization called “Retrieving Independence” which trains dogs to become service animals. Charlie, a retriever lab mix, had previously worked with a diabetic patient. He had been trained, through scent, on how to sense a dip or spike in blood sugar and was equipped with skills such a food and juice retrieval to provide aid to his patient. Dr. Dew shared his story with us as well as many other touching stories that have resulted from the Retrieving Independence program (http://retrievingindependence.org/).

We learned about Charlie’s brother, Rex, who has been working with his patient for years. His patient suffers from extreme seizures. Rex has been trained on how to roll the patient over following a seizure, how to retrieve help, and how to bring the patient’s wife the medications and tools she may need to assist her husband. According to the patient, Rex saves his life everyday.

It is not just through medical service that these dogs provide aid. They are trained in a local prison by inmates. According to these individuals, these dogs have saved their lives as well. Dr. Dew read us a letter from an inmate who had trained a dog like Charlie. He explained that having this creature to be responsible for gave him great purpose. Additionally, he shared that these dogs have shown him what it means to selflessly love and care for another being. He explained that he regrets what he has taken from society but through this program he hopes to give back some good.

These dogs are truly amazing and their stories are even more impressive. See below for pictures of our night with Charlie and Dr. Dew and click here if you would like to learn more about Retrieving Independence or donate to their great cause!

This blog post was written by L Hildner (the Graduate Fellow for Elliston Hall). She is a graduate student in Peabody College. The opinions expressed herein are L’s and are not necessarily those of Vanderbilt University.