Budge the Stress Dog

I had a great opportunity to meet a local celebrity. I had seen him before on T.V. - I think it was CNN or FoxNews - but had never met him in person.

No, it wasn't Toby Keith, although he was here the same day. In fact, as one soldier put it, this celebrity may possibly be bigger than Toby Keith.

He's Budge, the Stress Dog.

Or, to be more accurate, Sgt. First Class Budge, the Stress Dog.

It all came about when some medical folks over at the Combat Stress hospital started thinking about ways to ease the strain on soldiers. Taking their clue from hospitals which had noticed the calming effects of pets on nursing home patients or others in need, they hit on the idea of getting their own stress dog.

Budge - as the TV broadcast explained - goes all over this base and others, visiting the troops. Being petted. And just being a dog. A tough life it must be. And so it happened that a small medical awareness display was set up over at the palace, and budge came along. Walking through the hall, I spotted him and just had to come and say hi. I was star-struck. Celebrities just don't get any cooler than Budge.

So, like an awkward teenager, I begged to get a photograph, and his handler agreed. After that, I played a bit with Budge - tossing his chew toy and playing tug-of-war with it. He was an excited and friendly dog, and as I went back to work, I think I could verify that the "Budge effect" was not just a myth, for I felt no stress at all.