WHO would have thought that a life saver could come with four legs, a wet nose and a very waggly tail.
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The annual Anzac Day march in Bathurst always attracts hundreds of participants and among those marching on Wednesday was Lola the dog who was determined to help her veteran Michael Nobes.
Lola is part of the Corrective Services NSW’s Defence Community Dogs program which is run at Bathurst Jail, and it is the first time the program has been included in the march.
The initiative pairs up inmates with rescue dogs for an intensive six-month training period to provide assistance dogs for Australia’s Defence Force veterans.
Program overseer Kylie Fogarty said veterans can suffer from a range of issues such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.
Mr Nobes served with the Royal Australian Navy as a clearance diver for 24 years, before then working in bomb disposal in Laos and Cambodia for 10 years.
“I do suffer from PTSD and I don’t like crowds and I suffer from fairly bad nightmares as well,” he said. “I used to be super vigilant around going to shopping malls.”
Lola recently graduated from training and two weeks ago was handed over to Mr Nobes.
He said not only has Lola been a calming influence when he was out in public, but in the dead of night when he suffers from horrific nightmares she wakes him up, all thanks to her months of training in the jail.
“She’s pulled me out of nightmares twice now since I’ve had her,” Mr Nobes said.
“I normally suffer from kicking my feet and punching in my sleep … but Lola has jumped up on the bed and lays straight across my feet and puts her weight on them … it just brings me back into the real world I guess.
“It’s been the most amazing thing.”
Mr Nobes, who lives in Cowra, volunteered to be part of the program and said he was “very lucky” to receive a dog like Lola.
Following his application process and acceptance into the program, Mr Nobes met the Bathurst inmate who had trained Lola so they could undertake a handover and learn training commands.
I normally suffer from kicking my feet and punching in my sleep … but Lola has jumped up on the bed and lays straight across my feet and puts her weight on them … it just brings me back into the real world I guess.
- Veteran Michael Nobes
“They are so giving the inmates, you see the respect they have for veterans,” he said.
“You see the love that the dogs have for their trainers and you don’t want to take that dog from them, but every trainer says they ‘are doing it for us the veterans’ and ‘it makes their day when they see us walk out of there a changed person’.”
Mr Nobes praised the program for the life skills, responsibility, empathy, patience and understanding that it brings each inmate who trains a dog.
“It must go a long, long way to their rehabilitation,” he said.