LONDON, ONT Having worked with therapy dogs for nearly 15years, Brad Dodd and his wife Sara decided to start
The Phoenix Canine Initiative, which focuses on first responders who are facing trauma in their day-to-day life. “We realized a huge difference - what dogs bring to the table, just in my personal life, and what I’ve gone through in my career as a firefighter- we really realized there was a massive difference with the dogs and how they interacted with us on a different level,” said Dodd. Dodd is the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team co-ordinator with the London Fire Department. He is hoping to incorporate the therapy dogs in the program and bring awareness to how much canine therapy can help first responders.