Group effort reunites veteran and dog veteran

Nearly a year’s separation did not dim the love of a little fluffy white dog named Vanilla for George Vincent, the veteran she serves.

As Vincent approached her crate Friday afternoon at Glacier Park International Airport, Vanilla began to whine and wag her tail.

Vincent wiped tears from his eyes as his dream came true of a reunion with the miniature American Eskimo dog that he trained to help with his post traumatic stress disorder.

“Being without her has been pretty rough,” he said. “Simple things are hard, like going to the grocery store.”

A Navy veteran, Vincent had to leave Vanilla with his mother in Florida when he became homeless. He subsequently moved to Kalispell to pursue his dream of living among the mountains of Montana.

Karen Blackbird, who works with the Veterans Affairs housing voucher program, recalled Vincent’s first request when he applied for the HUD/BASH program last October and was accepted for housing.

“He said, ‘You have to help me get my dog,’” she said. “I said, ‘What?’ Then he explained.”

Vincent, 42, was in the Navy in the late 1980s but then deployed overseas as a civilian in classified work related to the military. He officially received his diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder five years ago.

Vanilla, now 6, came into his life when she was 6 months old. He rescued the dog when his apartment manager no longer wanted to put up with a puppy that wasn’t housebroken.

“Within a week, I had her housebroken,” he said.

Vincent then began working on training her to help him control his manifestations of PTSD. After receiving his diagnosis, he found resources for the basics through service dog organizations, although none specialized in dogs to help with this condition.

He came up with his own solutions.

“She wakes me up when I’m having flashbacks by licking my hands,” he said. “She picks up my keys if I drop them. She helps me out in large crowds of people and she reads my emotional state very well. If I get anxious, she crawls up into my lap.”

Vincent said she lets him know when people come up behind him. He worries about overreacting in public when someone suddenly appears in his peripheral vision.

“The worst thing you can do to someone with PTSD is come up suddenly behind them,” he said.

Although Vanilla wears a T-shirt that says “PTSD service dog, please do not pet,” Vincent said people can’t resist coming up and petting the adorable dog who also loves people. He said that has actually proved to be therapeutic.

“It makes me start opening up and communicating with people,” he said.

Vincent grew to depend on Vanilla’s services, so their separation was more than just the loss of a canine companion. She plays a key role in stabilizing his mental health and helping him heal.

For this reason, Blackbird began a personal crusade to find a way to fly Vanilla across the country once Vincent found a duplex that accepted service animals. It was discouraging when he got a quote of $750 from an air service that specializes in shipping animals.

Although he has a very low income, Vincent tried to find small jobs such as shoveling snow and chipping ice to raise the money. He currently is working with vocational rehabilitation to market his art carvings that can be seen at myspace.com/woodcarvingartist.

Blackbird wrote to animal and veterans organizations and posted requests for help on social media. A group called Pilots N Paws tried to link up flights, but it was just too far and didn’t work out.

Through local DJ Brew Michaels at B98.5, Blackbird linked up with Nancy Krause and Capt. Dan Handlin of Delta Air Lines who live at Bitterroot Lake, not far from Capt. Chris and Kathy Saucier, who also work for Delta. Those four jumped into the effort, providing employee discounts to reduce the dog shipping cost to $300.

When the Kalispell VFW post chipped in $200, the two couples donated $100 to pay Vanilla’s airline shipping cost. Because the Sauciers have a second home in Florida, Kathy picked up Vanilla on Thursday from Vincent’s mother in Ormond Beach.

Speaking by phone Friday from Florida, Kathy Saucier said Vanilla was the perfect overnight guest and even got along with their two cats.

“We wanted to keep her,” she said with a laugh. “She’s an amazing dog.”

Kathy left home at 4 a.m. Friday to make the hour and a half drive to the Orlando airport where Vanilla left at 6 a.m. for a connection in Minneapolis. Handlin came on board Delta Flight 5690 in Minneapolis and made the flight back from a business trip on the same plane with Vanilla.

Handlin, Krause and Blackbird were at the airport with Vincent for his reunion with Vanilla. Everyone beamed when an official finally brought the crate with the little white dog into the baggage area.

Handlin said that so many people at Delta, including a pilot in the Middle East, had made calls to try to make this happen.

“This became an international effort,” he said.

Vincent struggled to keep his emotions under control as he finally opened the door to the crate and Vanilla jumped into his arms and licked his face. He quickly got her on a leash and out the door for a break after the long flight.

Earlier that day, he said he initially was afraid to get his hopes up when he learned just Thursday that the flight was arranged. He called it a “shock and awe moment” when he learned it was really happening.

“All the people who have helped — I’m truly grateful for what they have done,” he said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.