Harley and me: how a service animal helps one UH student
October 13, 2015
Amy Wolfe is a biomedical engineering sophomore living on campus with her service animal, Harley. Harley helps Wolfe as a coping mechanism for her Asperger’s Syndrome by accompanying her to class and around campus.
Through education and communication, Wolfe hopes to raise awareness about service animals like Harley. See how Harley helps Wolfe get through a typical day on campus.
“Dogs really help. They’re so aware of us as humans. We have therapy dogs…dogs that detect diabetes…epileptic seizures before they come on. It’s an amazing thing.”
“(He helps me) through tactile stimulation. If you ever see me put my hand up, he knows to come up and start nudging me. It’s one of those things, (it) brings up a sense to distract from all the other senses. If I start having a panic attack he immediately knows and starts pawing at me until I give him attention, so I get that tactile stimulation I need.”
“If a dog is in a service vest, don’t distract him. Don’t yell puppy at him. You can see his service vest, it’s bright pink.”
“The longer we we’re apart the worse his separation anxiety got because he’s a rescue. He was abandoned when he was about 5 months old, he’s 10 or 11 months old now, not even a year old and he’s a brilliant dog.”
“The other day day he did something that surprised me. I was about to have a migraine. I didn’t realize I was gonna have one, I had none of the symptoms but he got up and started whining at me and tugging at his leash which was weird because I didn’t feel like I was going to have a panic attack or anything. So I told him to sit and lie down, not even five minutes after he settled down I had a migraine hit me and I had to leave class. He’s never been taught to do that, I’ve never thought about teaching him to detect when migraines hit but he instinctively knew.”
“He actually pulled me out of class the other day before I had a severe panic attack. His two (tasks) are to redirect or remove, if he can’t redirect me, he’ll remove me from the situation. All my professors know if he gets up and pulls me, I am leaving.”
“(Being in this environment without him) was terrible. Suicidal tendencies increased, my anxiety peaked, and I was having 10 to 15 panic attacks (per week). I missed several classes. Without that medication and (Harley), it would be a terrible situation.”
“(Normally people with Asperger’s are treated with) medication. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot out there for us. We’re kind of just left on our own.”
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