Specially trained to help sailors cope with stress associated with deployment
June 23, 2023 |DOD News |
Meet Sage, the USS Gerald R. Ford's facility dog. Under a pilot program, she is the first "expanded operational stress control canine" that will be part of the crew of a Navy ship throughout a deployment.
The 3-year-old Labrador retriever has been specially trained to help sailors cope with stress associated with deployment, providing comfort and morale boosts as part of the ship's warfighter toughness mental health and resiliency team.
A seated dog stares up at a person holding her leash.
A dog sits in front of four smiling, standing sailors in a room.
Recently, Sage and her handlers visited sailors aboard the USS Normandy, another ship in the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, in the Mediterranean Sea. From the looks of it, things went swimmingly.
