Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett Cindy Rhodes sits with Maverick, one of three therapy dogs. Sergeants 1st Class Boe and Budge and 1st Sgt. Maverick haven’t been at Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center long, but they have already made an impact on the patients there.

“It’s been very successful. I knew it would be,” said Cindy Rhodes, a recreation therapist, who uses the pet therapy program to assist patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as substance abuse issues.

She has been asked to speak at the Department of the Army’s Animal Assisted Therapy Symposium at Fort Myer, Va. in December.The three dogs arrived at Fort Gordon Sept. 29 and went to work the next day. In two months, the three thera- pists using the dogs have seen tremendous differences in patients.

Rhodes is working on her remarks for the symposium, but she may let the Soldiers she’s worked with offer input on how the dogs have helped them.

“Maverick is an icebreaker. He gives them something to talk about,” said Rhodes.

Susanne Steele, an occupational therapist who handles Budge, a black Labrador retriever, said there has been one patient whose experience with the dogs was remarkable.

Steele said the Soldier opened up to the questions people asked and told them about the dog and what she was going through.She said the people in the community responded with words of kindness and gratitude.