Meet Ski the Service Dog in Training
Ski is one of the dogs with Leases of Valor being trained to be a psychiatric service dog for a post-9/11 veteran to help with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury--what Leashes of Valor refer to as the "unseen" wounds of war. PTSD impacts as many as one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She's named in memory of U.S. Army Special Forces Capt. Michael Y. Tarvlasky, who was killed in action in Iraq on Aug. 12, 2004. Capt. Tarlavsky was born in Latvia, and his family settled in New Jersey. He was part of the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky at the time of his death. Ski’s entire two years of training are being sponsored by The Patriot Fund. As her sponsor, they also got to name her, and they chose to name her after Tarvlasky. A perfect fitting to name her after a soldier who was described as, “superman.”
Her trainers say,
“Ski is absolutely adorable, but she is also very intelligent. Loud noises and sudden movements do not bother her, which makes her very easy to train. She has a great ability to focus with a laid-back personality, which is very unusual for a pup her age.” (She's six months old.)
"She loves moving her chew toy under her place cot and then digging it out and 'finding' it. She also loves fetch."
Ski is being fostered by, Dr. Stuart Callahan, a veterinarian at Mechanicsville Animal Hospital. What a perfect pair!
To learn more about Ski and how to support other service dogs in training please visit https://leashesofvalor.org/ (Ski’s favorite snack is peanut butter:: hint, hint:: )
