0522HarfordSpring22 - Flipbook - Page 50
Autumn watches over Stacey Martin's baby,
Summer — “a coincidence,” she said.
“Those serving in the military often move
around to places where they have no family or
friends — only the pet that they’ve adopted,”
Zimmerman said. “It’s a critical bond.”
At the same time, “veterans who are
separated from the service can find it hard to
adjust to civilian life. They may lack the clarity
of purpose they had in the military — and
caring for a pet helps them feel like they’ve got
that structure, and a buddy, back again.”
“Some veterans tell us that, no matter how
much they love their families, they only tell
their secrets to their dog or cat. There are
some things they just can’t talk to other people
about, and that release is extremely important
to their mental health. It’s like four-legged
therapy.”
All Pets for Patriots requires is that adoptees
bear some baggage — be it as an older animal,
one with special needs or another issue that,
for some reason, has kept them on a shelter’s
shelf. There’s a reason for that provision.
“Many veterans dealing with physical or
emotional challenges see a reflection of their
own issues in the animals they adopt,” said
Zimmerman. “We had a young airman who
returned home from deployment to find that
his wife had left him. [Eventually] he went to
a shelter and found a dog, cowering in a cage,
who’d also been abandoned. The two of them
understood each other.”
Clients have acknowledged that embracing
50 | SPRING 2022 | harfordmagazine.com
A retriever-pit bull mix, Autumn is an anchor in Martin’s hectic life and has traveled with the family to
Japan, where Martin was stationed in the Army. PHOTOS COURTESY OF STACEY MARTIN
a pet has saved not only the animal’s life, but
their own as well. Like the Air Force veteran
in Illinois who confessed that adopting a
disfigured dog named Thunder saved her
from committing suicide.
“Every story may not be Kleenex-worthy,
but every [pairing] enhances each others’
lives,” Zimmerman said.
A retriever-pit bull mix, Autumn is an
anchor in Martin’s hectic life, so much so
that in 2019, when she and her spouse were
deployed to Japan, they took the dog along.
And last year, when they had their first child,
they named her Summer — “a coincidence,”
she said.
In fact, they’d adopted Autumn while on
their honeymoon.
“I said, ‘Let’s go to a shelter and look
around,’ “ said Martin, an Army veterinary
technician. “I’m very dog-centric, and my
husband is always down for my adventures.”
Right off, Autumn stole her heart.
“She was just a baby, 10 months old, just
sitting there kind of sad but with the prettiest
eyes. I fell in love with her right there,” said
Martin. But there was a catch: the pup had
ringworm and could not be adopted until
cured of the rash.
“It hurt my heart that she was in a kennel.
I wanted her home with me,” she said. “That’s
when I pulled the ‘vet tech’ card and said I
could treat her at home.”
Four days after their wedding, the Martins
welcomed their new arrival. On the ride
home from the Harford shelter, the 42-pound
pooch sat on the back seat, behind the driver,
Antonio, and rested her head on his shoulder.
Why name her Autumn?
“It was fall, and her beautiful eyes reminded
me of the autumn leaves,” said Martin.