A Tale of Tails
by Julie H
Working with children of military members has always been rewarding. Goodfellow AFB School Age Program and my dog Blade teamed up for a special program; Therapy Dogs International’s Tail Waggin Tutors. The children sign up to read to Blade. We sit on bean bags, and the child pets Blade as they read. Tail Waggin Tutors is a remarkable program. Blades’ impact is immeasurable. One day after we were finished with the readers; a child stomped in. The room was empty of children. He had gotten in trouble in another room and was angry. Another staff member tried talking to him, he wouldn’t listen. She attempted different strategies, to no avail. We asked him if he wanted to talk to Blade. He agreed. After about 3 minutes of purging his problems to Blade; about wrecking children Lego creations and yelling at them …, the boy frankly said that he was done. I looked at the boy and Blade and asked the boy what he should do next. He told Blade, all the outstanding solutions which had been suggested to him by staff many times. I suggested to him that over the next week he practice those skills and tell Blade how he did on her next visit. He agreed and was excited about his talk with Blade. We were so excited; this little boy never talks about his anger. He never controls it, either. Through this experience we decided that Blade would start another program at the School Age Program called, Chats with Blade. Who knows what lives we will change? As a civilian working with military, it is my honor to work with their children, any helping with the stress in the children’s life is only a small part of what I can give back for their parents’ sacrifice.