Saturday, July 9, 2016

Mother to Mother



Mother to Mother July 4, 2016 

San Diego, California.


Mavis H. MacDowell


Sources for this article are;  Scientific American Mind May/ June  2015 ‘Why we love pets and why they love us, the science behind the bond.’  Neurology Now; February/ March 2016  ‘Healing Tails’  Scientific American  2016 ‘ Cross Species Bonding’ and ‘How Dogs Think’ by Immanuel Birmelin   plus articles from  the Las Vegas Review Journal.
                Some things I have learned while trying to train  a puppy for  my son with TBI include  how unique  this relationship is between an uncomplicated brain and one that injuries have given limitations to. It’s difficult to detect the nuances of emotion a human face tries to hide for someone who has been injured. Having a relationship the veteran can understand and rely on can make all the difference.
                The trainer may need to emphasize how the dog shows, fear, aggressiveness, hunger, thirst, excitement, jealousy and bonding. Also the dogs partner will have  to  be taught  all the things he needs to do for  his/her dog.  Proper nutrition and grooming are only part of it. We have 1 dog afraid of storms and fireworks. She has to be wrapped in a ‘thunder coat’ and held inside. The  other dog happily runs around in the noise and flashes.
                The Review Journal had an article recently about a vet who had been deployed  to Afganistan 12 times and had multiple TBIs. He had a dog but couldn’t  pull his life together until he trained a dog for another veteran. Another article by Steve Dale talked about rescue dogs being paired with veterans with PTSD. According to the VA 22 veterans a day commit suicide. Veterans with  a  service dog having much lower suicide rates.  Tracy Libby is  the author of; Reporting for Duty: True  Stories of Wounded Veterans and their Service  Dogs .   Another RJ article featured therapy dogs  brought into the VA hospital in Las Vegas. And the positive effect on the chronically stressed staff as well as the veterans.
                I wish to differ with the trainers who want you to start  taking  your puppy to classes at 6 to 8 weeks old.  For my Doberman puppies and I it was a waste of time to start  too early. The trainers made money but the puppies were confused and I was frustrated. Socialize the puppies early but don’t start formal classes for anything until there are about six months old. Walk them, love them, take them for a rides, play with them teach them what you can at home.
Our puppy is now a year and a half, for treats she will sit, Leave it, speak, fetch, give it, stay, go to bed,  lay down, and shake. She instinctively watches and knows when one of us needs a hug. She doesn’t walk perfectly with us. She is not a barker or  aggressive and she only pointed to the snake that  came to my back door. So I’m pretty happy with her behaviors that were mostly  taught from an old woman who didn’t know what she was doing only that she wanted a service dog for her son.
               

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Benefit Car Show

Ed Bozarth Mark Miller Chevrolet hosted a benefit car show for the Veterans Art Center.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

This is how you are helping!

The Veterans Day Art and Music Extravaganza 2016 at the Historic Avalon Theater promises to be even more successful than last year.  Veterans Art will be on display in the Encore room, and we will have Veterans story telling, live entertainment, an afternoon variety show in the theater, kids art table, information and resources of area veterans organizations, silent and live auctions and an evening concert with a surprise headliner.  Fun and activities from 1 pm to 9:30 pm on Veterans Day, November 11th.  All free in honor of those who have served.

Sponsorship is needed to pull this off and here is how far we have come with meeting our budget:


We have made it easy for you to help out.  You can send or drop off a donation at the Veterans Art Center but you are also able to contribute online.  Just go to our online campaign at https://www.crowdrise.com/veterans-arts-and-music-extravaganza/
Sponsor on our Veterans Charity Challenge page and we might even win one of the weekly prizes.  You can also pick a team member to support!!  If you want to join the team to help us out click the Join Team' button and a fundraising page will be created for you instantly.
We have several special perks for donors and sponsors at $250 and over.  Contact us at events@operationrevamp.org.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Casualties - Book signing today

Add it to your calendar

Add this to your Calendar

Firkin Monday at Kannah Creek

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Friday, February 5, 2016

Turquoise and Iris - Opening Reception

Solo Exhibition by Veteran  L.J. Stivers, Army 1970-1974


Larry Stivers studied art for five years at Lewis and Clark Junior, Alton, IL, SIU Edwardsville, IL.  He was also a Combat Illustrator for three years in the US Army. “I enjoy impressionism. I like to paint in bright colors, to express how I see the South Western Landscape.  I take a lot of pictures in my mind of actual landscapes and then paint the pictures in my mind before actually starting to transfer it on the canvas.”  Larry is also a retired firefighter, and has pastored in the Church of the Nazarene for fifteen years.  Larry encourages others to ‘paint their feelings, use art as a way to express yourself and to use it as a means of release, to serve others’.
 

Larry enjoys the Dutch and French impressionists.  The painting “Through the Looking Glass” was the first painting he did in recovery. He sought out imagery to paint and decided that if he wanted to heal, he would need to use bright colors. It was a struggle but it worked for him.

Larry also crafts his own custom frames to compliment his paintings. His original paintings and/or prints are available custom framed or unframed. Many of his pieces are on display and available for sale at the Veterans Art Center.  www.veteransartcenter.com
970 462-3126 #veteransart