Personal security/ Service dogs save lives

Retired Marine and lifelong New Yorker Matthew Raible knows that service dogs save lives.

On a cold January night, the disabled Vietnam veteran fell while transitioning from the driver’s seat to his wheelchair inside his specialized van. He lay on the floor as temperatures plummeted; the door handle and his keys with an automatic door opener were out of reach.

Raible — who was wounded in the feet, abdomen, hands, shoulder and neck when a mortar round exploded during Operation Allen Brook on May 27, 1968 — said it was likely he would have frozen to death.

But that’s when his service dog, Agatha, sprang into action.

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