Merenia Donne, Rica, and veteran Danny Nelson pose for a photo with Tygen, a borzoi dog owned by the breeder donating two dogs from her next litter to the foundation. Photo / Simon Woolf Photography
Merenia Donne, Rica, and veteran Danny Nelson pose for a photo with Tygen, a borzoi dog owned by the breeder donating two dogs from her next litter to the foundation. Photo / Simon Woolf Photography
A charity that trains assistance dogs is calling for vetererans young and old to apply for a dog.
The Kotuku Foundation, which has trained and placed 12-14 dogs for people with impairments since 2005, will be donated two borzoi puppies out of a breeder's next litter, and are looking for veterans who would benefit from them.
Merenia Donne started the charity in memory of her dog Nikki, who saved her life years ago by pulling her out of a car wreck.
Donne has lived with a head injury and PTSD since then, and is passionate about providing support to people with impairments that cannot easily be seen.
"I took me seven years before I would even get in another car, that's how PTSD gets you. You can be walking along a road and it's like a cinema replay. You're frozen, you can't move because you're back in the moment."
Merenia Donne, pictured with her second assistance dog, Rica, has a head injury and PTSD after a car accident. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
People still didn't understand how such unseen impairments affected a person, and there was still "a real stigma" attached, she said.
"There is always the unseen or unspoken thought in people's minds that 'oh but they look alright'."
This knowledge is partly behind her desire to train dogs to help veterans, whether they served in World War II, Vietnam, or more recently domestically or internationally. If they were diagnosed with a condition because of their service, they should apply.
Donne said people suffering from PTSD from their work in the Christchurch earthquake were an example of those who should apply for a dog, even if they didn't think they fit the "veteran" stereotype.
"If you have a diagnosis that dogs could help you with and could change your life for the better and you tick our boxes, then absolutely you can apply."
Previously, the foundation has trained dogs for a range of things - from helping owners with diabetes to detecting an allergen and preventing their owner from going in anaphylactic shock.
One veteran in New Zealand has received a trained assistance dog from the foundation, but Donne said they hoped to grow this number.
The small charity relies on donations to do its work, so the promised puppies from the borzoi breeder were a blessing.
The puppies will be worth $3000 each.
Borzoi dogs were an "under the radar breed".
Donne said they were "incredibly sensitive" so would be well in tune with a person who was feeling depressed or panicky. They are also "very strong" and particularly social, as well as a bit stubborn.
"You have to engage with them. That's really good for the veterans."
The assistance dogs can be trained to do things such as watch their owner's backs for them in public and alert them if someone is approaching, or to check a dark house for their owner when coming home.
"A lot of veterans don't want to leave their home for fear of going back to a dark area," Donne said.
"It's getting the veteran out and about and back into society."
The work isn't cheap - all costs included it takes about $50,000 to provide an assistance dog, and Donne estimates they've placed about $658,000 worth of dogs around the country.
"We're done it on a wing and a prayer and the smell of an oily rag," she said.
To donate or to apply for a dog, email kotuku_foundation_aaa@hotmail.com or phone 021 2984741.
