A black labrador assistance dog named Charlie has given Matthew Connor quality since his diagnosis with post traumatic stress disorder.
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Mr Connor worked in general duties for 16 years in the NSW Police, in Walgett, Cabramatta and later Newcastle.
“I enjoyed the work, I enjoyed the job and I didn’t want to give it up,” he said.
“But I was exposed to a of things on duty and off duty as well, there was just no escaping it.”
Mr Connor didn’t wish to but he was forced to retire in August 2010 and the Port Stephens man became all but a recluse, not able to cope with unfamiliar places.
“I had two or three places I would go; to the supermarket, church and school with our daughter Korie,” Mr Connor said.
“I would become hyper vigilant – anxious – wound up, so I would get done what I had to and go home.”
It was only that he went to the library one day and witnessed an exchange between a librarian and someone with a dog in a blue vest that planted the idea of an assistance dog in Mr Connor’s mind.
He made a call to Assistance Dogs Australia and was invited to attend a talk in Sydney on the dogs.
“The waiting list can be up to two years but when I got there they offered me a dog there and then,” Mr Connor said.
Each dog costs about $30,000 to train and the organisation relies solely on donations.
The dogs are placed with people who have all manner of conditions and disabilities including dementia and cerebral palsy.
Unfortunately the first dog didn’t work out last year but Mr Connor has since received Charlie, a recent graduate.
“I can’t go anywhere without him being two or three steps behind me,” he said.
“If he sees me getting a bit anxious he’ll nuzzle up to me or even get on my lap so I focus on him and not what’s worrying me.”
The two are inseparable.
“When I go to bed he sleeps beside me on the floor,” he said.
“When I have a bad dream he jumps up on the bed and nuzzles up to me again and calms me down.”
Charlie has even restored some normality to family life.
“We went to the Royal Easter Show a few weeks ago,” he said.
“I’m trying to get out more because my family has had to put up with a lot. I took my son Caleb to Luna Park too because that’s something he’s wanted to do for a while.”
Most people recognise that Charlie is not a pet and is actually at work.
“There’s only really been one place that didn’t want Charlie to come in and that was a restaurant,” Mr Connor said.
“That’s where my wife Belinda is really good at stepping in and explaining things.
“There’s a lot of Defence people around here and they know a lot about PTSD so they’re really supportive.”
Mr Connor said he had always been a dog person in the past and had kept a few German shepherds.
But Charlie is different.
“The training is the big difference,” he said.
“A lot of training goes into an assistance dog and some people don’t understand that.
“They’ll want to pat him and they don’t understand that can undo a lot of his training.”
Charlie graduated his training in a ceremony at Admiralty House on April 1. The ceremony was conducted by the Governor General Peter Cosgrove.
“Assistance Dogs Australia don’t get any financial assistance from the government,” he said.
“I met the lady who sponsored Charlie that day and as a result, of her hearing the impact he’s had on my life, she’s decided to sponsor another dog.”
When the Examiner spoke to Mr Connor he was preparing to go on a trip to Uluru on a commercial flight with Charlie right there beside him.