Emily Dean/ Winonan
Some people walked into class the first day of school and found next to them a big German Shepard.
Chances are they have a class with Kaiser the service dog and his owner Megan Hurlburt, who has been battling posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since a near death experience 2 years ago.
Kaiser came into Hurlburt’s life after she experienced a near-fatal car crash in 2012. Hurlburt, a junior this year studying early childhood development, said she had a bad reaction to anxiety medication after her accident, so she began looking for alternative therapy methods.
“Anxiety is one of the worst things I’ve experienced. It can make you feel as though you are dying when outwardly you appear fine,” Hurlburt said.
She found an organization called Paws 4 Independence, who helped her find and train Kaiser.
“It is great to have such a great support system with me all the time. There are times when he is with me that I don’t feel anxiety at all: something I haven’t experienced in a very very long time, ” Hurlburt said.
The now-companionship wasn’t always easy, Hurlburt said, but even the hard parts were helpful.
“Finding the time was probably the hardest part about training Kaiser,” Hurlburt said, “but training was therapeutic in itself. It got me out of the house and got me concentrated on something else beside myself.”
Hurlburt said Kaiser is now fully trained and is able to accompany her anywhere on campus.
Having Kaiser with her in class can generate a lot of stares, and Hurlburt said she deals with misconceptions daily. She wants students to know that it is okay to come and talk to her about Kaiser and his job.
While sometimes, she said, it is hard to deal with the stereotypes of having a service animal, she views it as a responsibility.
“I feel that I am obligated to help people learn about service dogs, because so many people don’t have a whole lot of knowledge on the subject, nor is there any good material to educate people,” Hurlburt said.
In Hurlburt’s opinion, the biggest misconception about service dogs is that they are only for the blind.
“This is so not true,” Hulburt said, “They’re just starting to unlock the potential of our canine friends. [Canines] are now being used to detect some types of cancer.”
In terms of mental illness, Hurlburt said she wants to inform students that service dogs are different from emotional support animals.
“There is a lot of confusion about what a PTSD service dog does. They are not emotional support or comfort animals,” Hulburt said. “They are specially trained to perform tasks to mitigate a disability.”
Her hope is to inspire other students to face their own anxiety and depression head on and to seek treatment if they have not addressed their mental health.
Hurlburt wants to get the word out about mental health and let people know there is an alternative to medication.
“Mental health shouldn’t be something we are ashamed of,” Hurlburt said. “Talking about mental health can save yours or someone else’s life. It shows that we aren’t alone; there’s someone out there going through something just like you.”
Hulburt said she knows first hand how hard it can be to talk about. She wants students to know that anxiety in an invisible illness, but it should still be treated the same as any other physical ailment.
For students looking for help on campus, Hurlburt recommends students to visit Access Services, which has welcomed Kaiser on campus from day one.
Hulburt said access services helped her do research about service dogs and the laws associated with having one.
Nancy Dumke, the assistant director of Access Services, said Hulburt’s story is important for many different reasons.
“Megan [Hurlburt] is a gracious teacher, and we can all take something from her story,” Dumke said. Dumke said Kaiser is the only service dog in 22 years who services a student without vision loss.
“I think anytime a peer can share their own personal situation it helps another person see it’s acceptable to talk about,” Dumke said. Dumke said health is often talked about in terms of going to the gym and eating right, but mental health should also be discussed just as often.
Dumke also said everyone should take depression and anxiety seriously, and Hulburt is a leader for other students suffering from mental health.
“She is a leader and is commited to reaching out,” Dumke said.
Hurlburt said she believes her and Kaiser are helping the Winona State community by educating them about alternative treatment options for common disorders.
Hulburt said, “I hope that we give people a positive experience with service dogs, so they are more accepting of people with them and know how to act around one.”
