The Story Of Scott And Kachina

Scott struggled with numerous personal issues since his return to civilian life. His enthusiasm for training his string of two Paw Corps dogs belies the turmoil of his personal life; turmoil Scott says was brought on by the trauma and stress of his war experiences. When he heard about the Paw Corps program from a friend, he knew he had to get involved immediately, so he hitched a ride to a Paw Corps training session that day to meet with PawPADs staff. “I had to ride with a friend because I haven’t had a drivers license in 5 years…[I] just haven’t had the motivation to go get it back,” says Scott. “Since getting involved with training these dogs, I want to be able to get here regularly on my own and be consistent, so I’m finally taking steps to get my license back.”

Scott helped train “Kachina,” another PawPADs diabetic alert dog and another “recue,” whose owner had threatened to drown. Kachina has been partnered withJill, whose 8 year old son, Nick, is a “brittle” diabetic. Jill tells us that Kachina is “literally a life saver” for her son: alerting them in the middle of the night to Nicks dangerously plunging blood sugar levels. Jill and her husband have rarely slept a solid night since Nick was three; taking turns getting up to constantly check Nick’s blood sugar levels. Now, it’s Kachina who gets up when she detects the change in Nick’s blood sugar levels. Kachina couldn’t be loved and wanted and needed more. Scott still struggles with his personal issues but feels his life has been made noticeably better by his experience with Paw Corps.