Page 752 - Total War on PTSD

first time in two years that you have smiled and laughed." And I said that it was because he brings me peace.
So that's how JP joined our family. He is just incredible. I trained JP myself with some guidance from the breeder. One of the things that happened was the breeder gave JP to me for free and she taught me how to train him. He does passive protection for me...meaning he blocks people so that they can't come up behind me and startle me...which is very important since my first reaction is to swing. Actually, he blocks from both the front and the back. He has been trained to help me remember to take my medicine because of my short-term memory issues. He lays by my bed at night and, if I start having bad flashbacks or nightmares, he will lick me in the face to wake me up so that they don't become full-blown. He just knows when things are bothering me.
The instincts that he has, that dogs have, are just incredible. They rely on their instincts to keep themselves alive, that's just the way their brains are geared. Everything that we did in training focused on paying attention to your dog. Although that may seem like a small thing, petting your dog when you aren't anxious helps to build the bond between yourself and the dog. If you feel yourself getting anxious, you need to get control of your anxiety before it gets overwhelming. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't...that's just the way things are. So, what you do is you get your person to focus on their dog...and it's really pretty cool because what you see, or at least what we have experienced is, there are times when people are extremely agitated, and then they go over and pet their dog. They start with quick, agitated strokes...and as they calm down
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