Medric Cousineau had no issues arriving at the Thunder Bay International Airport Thursday. He did, however, have a close call.
The Eastern Passage, NS, man suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and on Thursday at the airport he felt his anxiety start to rise.
Known as a ‘trigger,’ the feeling is difficult for a non PTSD sufferer to understand.
“Once those start it’s almost like a waterfall,” Cousineau said. “You can’t put the water back up the waterfall and I was not in a good space.”
Cousineau’s trigger came out of nowhere and he became so wound up he became physically ill. Left unchecked, Cousineau said, the event could easily have escalated. He may have bolted from the airport in a panic, or had an “inappropriate response that more than likely would have led to the police” speaking with him.
But that’s not how the event unfolded Thursday. Instead, Cousineau’s service dog, Thai, intervened.
The five-year-old yellow Labrador retriever can, through an amazing sense of smell, tell when Cousineau’s emotional self-regulation “goes out of whack.”
When the dog senses the emotional tension, she interacts with Cousineau. Whether it’s a gentle nudge or a stiff body check, the dog’s intervention is enough to turn what could be a bad situation into a simple close call.
Retired Cpt. Cousineau is the keynote speaker for Saturday’s Dog’s with a Cause Charity Dinner Auction, which takes place from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Victoria Inn’s Regency Ballroom and celebrates service animals.
The dinner will allow guests to meet local service dogs, bid on luxury prize packages and enjoy a five-course dinner. Funds raised will support the Thunder Bay and District Humane Society’s Take the Lead campaign to build a new spay-and-neuter clinic.
Melanie Blanchette, the local Humane Society’s executive director, said fundraising for the clinic is nearly at the halfway mark of the $200,000 goal.
If successful, the Humane Society will be able to host the spay-and-neuter clinic onsite at its Rosslyn Road location, which will provide affordable spay and neuter services to the entire region.
“There is no spay or neuter clinic, or Humane Society for that matter, from White River to the Manitoba border,” she said. “So we would service the entire Northwest region.”
Such a clinic would go a long way in addressing the homeless and stray animal problem the region currently faces.
And as Cousineau put it, “the easiest way to save 100 cats is to spay one.”
Tickets for Saturday’s event are still available. If you’re interested in attending the Dogs with a Cause Event, book online at this website.