Hi,

You’ve heard of service dogs for the visually impaired, haven’t you? Those are those specially trained dogs that help visually impaired people get around better. Well, now they have service dogs for other disabled people as well. Including people with bipolar disorder. It’s true!

Here’s a true story:

Bill has bipolar disorder. He was in a major car accident this past year, and was injured. They thought he was going to lose his leg, but fortunately, they were able to save it. Unfortunately, it was broken in four places, and had to be immobilized. He needed two major operations to save it. Bill was a very independent man and up until then, was used to getting up and going wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. So being in a wheelchair was something new to him. He didn’t like it at all. On top of that, he was told that his recovery would be very slow. In fact, he was told that it could take up to a year before he would be able to walk again. He was very discouraged by this news. It was very hard for him not to be depressed. His doctors were very concerned that on top of fighting to recover the use of his leg again, that he would be fighting to stay out of a bipolar depressive episode on top of it. So somebody recommended that he get a puppy from the Animal Shelter. At first he was reluctant to do it, but the more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to Bill. He talked it over with his wife, who said she would help him take care of it. They went to the Animal Shelter and picked out a puppy. Bill began training the puppy and playing with her, and pretty soon, his spirits improved greatly. It was a great motivation to get up on his leg as he needed to take the puppy for a walk, so his leg began improving as well. Believe it or not, he improved so rapidly that he actually was able to walk at less than a year – at only nine months of recovery! Bill attributes his rapid recovery and avoidance of a major bipolar episode to getting a puppy.

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An amazing story, isn’t it? So uplifting and encouraging! You might want to consider getting a puppy for your loved one to take care of as well. Look what it did for Bill!

I saw another report on TV, on Discovery Channel, I believe, where they did a story on a young woman who was struggling with depression. She had even been on medication to try and help her depression, but it wasn’t helping her. Even therapy wasn’t helping her. Nothing was helping her. She was desperate. So somebody suggested that she get a dog. And she did. She quickly came out of her depression, and this report, done quite awhile after that, showed that she still was not experiencing any more depressive episodes. She attributed her healing from depression to

getting that dog. She said it was because it gave her something to get out of bed for every day, among other things. She couldn’t just stay in bed and feel sorry for herself any more, because that dog needed her to take care of it. Maybe this would help your loved one as well.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave