Nice Puppy

By Tom Brennan

When I was a teen, I was in the boy scouts. We did lots of fun things as our scoutmaster had been a marine in Vietnam and he didn't treat us like little kids. Being blind, I thought I'd have problems but I think I worried more about that than anyone else in my troop. I was always included in everything and was in the forefront of much of it. I never felt left out or excluded in any way, not even when I decided to get my swimming merit badge.

Most of my badges and other activities went pretty normally. Swimming didn't require sight, as was the case with most stuff. The First-aid badge required a little extra work because I couldn't look at the illustrations of bandaging and splinting in the book.

I had a collie named Laddie. That dog was one of the gentlest animals I have ever known. He became my first aid buddy. When I needed to practice bandaging, my mother would show me what was in the illustrations and Laddie was always there for me to practice on. That dog would lie there for hours at a time being bandaged and flopped around during endless sessions while I tried to learn the skills I needed.

After learning the bandaging skills, it was time for splinting. Once again, Laddie was volunteered. This time, I splinted legs, paws, tail, jaw and even applied back and neck braces. I even splinted his nose at one point. I can remember him trying to walk with a leg in a sling. Still he allowed this with only a break once in awhile to play or have a drink. He never complained at all...I would have left long ago!

Next, I had to learn to carry injured people and to some extent, this was more difficult with a dog. But Laddie was there again for stretcher duty, being carried on doors with his "broken back", and a host of other tortures recommended in the American Red Cross First-aid Book and in The Boy Scout Handbook.

Finally, I felt that I was nearly ready. In fact, I felt so ready that I decided to enter in a citywide First-Aid contest that all of the scout troops in the area were having. This was in El Paso, Texas, which was a city of several hundred thousand hence there were a lot of kids involved.

They wouldn't let me take Laddie to the event so I had to bandage real people. I bandaged, and splinted, and carried for all I was worth...running into constant surprises when people didn't bend the same way Laddie did. It was somehow difficult for me to remember that I was working on people rather than a dog.

I don't think I could have managed to learn all that I needed without Laddie to practice on, my mom's coaching and staying after me to practice. Even thought I was interested in First-Aid, many times I'd have rather have been outside playing. I certainly did not get to that contest under my own power.

All my work and all the help from Laddie and mom paid off... I got FIRST PLACE in that contest! Several years later, I actually had to use some of that knowledge when a neighbor's girl friend stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife. That guy also has Laddie and my mom to thank but doesn't even suspect it.

Tom Brennan, CCC-A/SLP, RHD
Web page: http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
Web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/speechscience.html
Web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/fluency.html