Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney, veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other disabilities often face a long and difficult path.

That journey towards recovery has been made easier for many veterans with a canine companion by their side.

Our own Grover Silcox visited Tales of Valor Piles of Honor.

The Lehigh County based nonprofit that trains service dogs.

They're trained for veterans, police officers and first responders suffering from service related disabilities.

Grover joins us now.

Grover, it's always good to see you.

Thanks for being here.

Great to be here.

Tell us all about it.

Yeah, you know, our dogs love us, right?

I mean, you walk out of the house and you come back and it's like you left for years.

It's like the first time they ever met you.

It really is.

Even if you just go get the mail and back, they're like, Where were you?

Right.

Exactly.

Now, imagine that kind of unconditional love in a dog.

Plus, a dog trained to help you face fears of public spaces or deep rooted depression and anxiety.

The folks at Tales of Valor train their dogs to do just that and much, much more and change the lives of the humans they serve.

It sounds like a really great program, a win win for both the dogs and the humans.

Exactly.

Applicants for service dogs apply to tales of valor by way of their therapist or the V.A.. Tales of valor began as a way to give back to our veterans.

Tales of Valor trains both applicant and dog together in a program that complements other behavioral health therapies and rehabilitation.

Tales of Valor raises the puppies, trains them, and they're human, and then offers the dogs a lifetime of support after graduation.

Let's go meet Gavin, a frisky nine month old labradoodle, one of the select canines chosen by the tails of Valor Paws of Honor program to serve those who served their country.

Your service dog helps you way more than you help the service dog.

Gavin, come.

George Heimer, a U.S. Army vet and retired EMT, suffers with PTSD from an injury received in the military and from years as a first responder.

Tales of valor matched Jay with Gavin Weight.

They now train together at tales of values at Lehigh County Center.

To be able to go out in public, to be able to stand in a store with people behind you, which is very difficult for most veterans and even first responder, because you're always waiting for something to happen and the dog can take some of that stress away.

Post doesn't give away my service dog.

He's being trained to help wake me up from nightmares, which is which is huge.

JS Injury in the military and especially his many years as an EMT, helping people in horrifying situations lead over time to his PTSD.

I was actually in the Army for less than six months at the time I was injured, but I was in EMS for 16 years.

Most of the issues that sprung up in my life much later on resulted from that service convoy convoy.

Two years ago, Jay nearly committed suicide.

But then he thought of his family and what it would do to them.

Because I've seen dozens, if not more, suicides in my career.

And besides, it's a it's not a pretty scene.

It's just devastating for families.

So with that pain that is so deep seated that it makes you not want to experience it anymore.

That's one of the reasons that, thank God Tales of Valor is here to provide service dogs to help.

Jay started counseling and later applied and was approved for a service dog from Tales of Valor.

It's helping me in public, so Gavin will do what's called six.

So it's basically protecting your back.

Is what we do in the military.

It's called I've got your six.

Gavin Six.

Six.

Good boy.

And he'll stand between my legs and look behind me.

And Gavin nudges me.

Different dogs do it in different ways and lets me know that there's somebody behind me, Decker said.

Come, let's go.

Heather Lloyd, a former physician's assistant and EMT, founded Tales of Valor ten years ago to serve veterans like Jay.

This walkway is a memory, a memory of soldiers and honoring of soldiers, those that sacrificed their time, those that sacrificed their life.

Tales of an organization that provides rehabilitation with veterans with PTSD and TBI.

We expanded recently after a decade of services for veterans, two first responders and police officers.

I think, according to Heather, certain breeds seem especially suited for training as service dogs sit and wait.

Goldendoodle Labradoodle, oles poodles have been awesome for our program.

Not only are they intelligent on the poodles and then retrieving skills with a lab and a golden, but the mixture of the to create of a dog that is able to learn faster and effectively with the resources that are provided through trainers and our specialists that work with our applicants.

boy.

Let's go.

Tales of Valor names each dog in honor of a fallen soldier or veteran who gave their life in the service of others.

My service dog, Gavin, is named after Staff Sergeant Justin Gavin.

He was a staff sergeant in the Air Force for many years.

In 2021, he succumbed to his demons.

He.

He could not deal with it anymore and left this world.

On this day, Heather works with Jay and Gavin on a trail walk behind the Tales of Valor facility.

There's something that we call a journey with a purpose.

The dogs truly go on a journey.

They begin at an eight week starting point, and go on a journey of up to two years.

They learn three different levels of skills.

There's a basic, there's an intermediate, and then there's an advanced.

Once they've mastered all those, then they go on to learn tasking, whether it be for a veteran or now a police officer and first responder.

And once the tasking is mastered, they'll go to something called public access test.

Good job.

Passing the public access test means the dog meets required skills such as leash and distraction control, especially in public spaces.

Once the public access test is mastered with 100%, we celebrate graduation.

It's life changing in the sense that it's allowing the access and the public places where the anxiety is is now down here where it used to be up here.

Let's go.

Heather and your team look for certain qualities in a puppy before selecting them for training.

Kurt, please said we look for the social ability of the puppy.

They have to, of course, like us humans to play with.

They have to have a focus on the handler.

Look weak or whoever is testing.

They have to not be afraid to be touched.

So we do a lot of handling and we also do recovery to be able to recover from things that they don't know.

A dog graduates as an A.D.A.

or Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines Service Dog.

After achieving a checklist of skills including over 30 commands specific to their human, your pets are very therapeutic for you anyway, and they provide a sense of unconditional love that creates a warming atmosphere.

The opposite.

They don't see the ghosts that you might hide.

They don't see that you might have a physical disability.

They just know and see that they love you.

That bond of affection proves especially strong in a service dog such as Gavin.

Not only does he crave Jane's affection, he also has his six.

It's a blessing.

It's a miracle that Heather Lloyd started this program ten years ago to be able to help people like me to have a new lease on life or a new lease on life.

Raising and trading Each dog costs approximately $26,000.

The Tales of Valor Organization is totally donor funded and supported, but the veterans, police officers and first responders are never charged.

According to Tales of Valor founder Heather Lloyd.

The applicants have already paid through their service.

Both dog and human are thoroughly vetted to qualify for the program.

Each dog graduates with a vest donning their name with info about the veteran or soldier they're named after.

GROVER It's amazing how these puppies are paired with their first responders or veterans.

It's really a neat program.

It really is.

The Tales of Valor facility can handle up to 16 dogs and many of them are puppies.

They're little babies.

And for the veteran or first responder, the process begins by just coming in.

And, you know, being with the dogs, the little puppies and holding them and petting them and getting to know them.

And what happens typically from what they tell me is that the dog chooses the applicant.

And that's what happened with J.

So sweet.

Yeah, I can I can feel the puppy licking in the breath, right?

Yeah.

Jake came to the facility one day.

You know, he had known the puppies and bit around them, but he hadn't chosen one yet.

And he came in one day and way at the end of the hallway was Gavin.

Right?

And Gavin looked at him and he looked at Gavin, and Gavin came running down to him.

And right there.

And then Jay knew it.

That's my dog for sure.

It was meant to be.

It really was, really a great program and really a great way to honor our veterans and first responders as well.

That is correct.

Grover, as always, thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure.

And that'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.