the power of pets
Kirstie Coy-Martin’s four-legged friend is helping those in need with his surfing skills…
Slowly, I weaved my paddle through the gentle currents of the sea and my board glided forward. A sense of happiness and calm flowed through me whenever I was on water. But my contentment was marred because my therapy dog, Scooter, couldn’t join me on the sea.
Scooter was a rescue dog from Portugal, who’d been found on the streets, destined to be put down until a charity stepped in. A mixture of poodle and Portuguese podengo, I brought him back to the home I shared with my wife, Michelle, by the sea in West Sussex.
I’d been a police officer with the Met for 27 years, working on harrowing child abuse investigations. The work had taken its toll, and I was diagnosed with complex PTSD. On my dark days, Scooter wouldn’t leave my side. He sensed when I was struggling and became my assistance dog, which allowed me to take him wherever I went.
He’d sit in the corner at the gym or on a sun lounger by the side of the pool, with his perfect, chilled-out demeanour. I realised he had the personality to become a therapy dog and he was soon bringing smiles to children in hospital and to residents in care homes. He had a natural empathy that drew him to someone who needed a cuddle.
But I missed him when I couldn’t take him out on the waves. I heard about a scheme in California to train surf therapy dogs, so I began the eight-month training course b
