Christopher Baity always wanted to work with
animals.
His parents bred and trained dogs when he
was growing up. He thought maybe he’d become a veterinarian. But eventually,
Baity found his niche as a dog handler for the U.S. Marine Corps. He worked
with drug dogs and bomb dogs during deployments to Japan, Iraq and Afghanistan
in the early 2000s.
When he came home in 2009, Baity said he
couldn’t imagine finding different work. He had spent his life with dogs. So,
he improvised.
A few years ago, Baity had the idea to start
an organization that pairs trained service dogs with injured or critically ill
veterans.
“There was a huge need,” said Baity, founder
and executive director of Semper K9 Assistance Dogs, in an interview with The
Huffington Post. “I saw the benefit that service dogs could provide.”
Then Baity met Russell Walters, a veteran
who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. He
worked with Walters for over six months before he felt both Buster and his new
owner were ready for the transition.
The long hours and hard work paid off the
night Baity watched the pair go home together.
“To see the look on his face, it’s almost
like you could see a change — an instant change,” Baity said of Walters. “It
felt like I was on springs. It was miraculous, I don’t know how else to
describe it.”
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