Healing Paws: The Silas Life

It started when I moved out of my parent’s house (they have aggressive dogs). This was the same year that I became independent, got diagnosed with many other underlying conditions and figured myself out. At this point I had been through everything (medications, therapy, etc) nothing seemed to assist me enough with my severe anxiety and bipolar.

I was told by my psychiatrist at the time that service dog would be an option (as a last resort). I had never thought that they made service dogs for mental illnesses (mostly only educated about guide dogs) and I am (and was) a very passionate animal lover and advocate. I decided that I’d try this option and go forward with it. Starting the process I was very uneducated and started on a budget (I was barely out of highschool, and my parents didn’t really get it).

I rescued a dog from a welfare, Silas, who is a Labrador x Border Collie cross. He had amazing temperament, was absolutely perfect for the job. I researched owner training and got a private trainer to assist me in tasks and obedience. Over time, I got extremely obsessed with dog training and it became every day that I was watching training videos, training outside and inside and trying several different techniques. We trained in pet friendly places and stores first before going into our first public access outing. I was extremely nervous and before this I had NEVER gone outside.

I was so terrified of the world and couldn’t leave my house, and now I’m suddenly outside almost every day with this dog. It was a huge difference already. I was very worried about him messing up even a little bit because I felt like everyone was watching me and that everyone would be critical and stare me down waiting for a mistake. (spoiler: literally nobody noticed him and he was the bestest boy ever).

We often struggle to gain access to some places as South Africa is not the most educated place to have a service dog. So I wanted to write this story in hopes that business owners will see the importance of assistance dogs in South Africa.