U of R business school boot camp helps Canadian veterans

If not for her service dog, Canadian Forces veteran Jill McLellan says she might not be alive today.

She sustained a psychological injury while serving as a captain during a nine-year term with the military. The injury left her with random panic attacks and nightmares and she was housebound for almost six straight months.

That was more than four years ago. Her service dog has helped with her recovery.

Veteran Jill McLellan started her service dog business, Watch My 6 Service Dogs, four years ago in Petawawa, Ont. (Evan Radford/980 CJME)

“He really got me out in public. If I start to have a panic attack, he alerts me; he’ll do deep-pressure therapy, or he’ll give me his paw to ground me. He also wakes me from nightmares,” she said.

That support prompted her to start a service dog training business in her home community, Petawawa, Ont. Watch My 6 Service Dogs trains canines for work with military veterans and anyone else with a disability or injury who needs them.

McLellan is one of more than 15 participants at a business boot camp at the University of Regina this week. It’s being put on by students and professors at the university’s business school for the seventh straight year; it started on Sunday and ends on Saturday.

McLellan is four years into her business in Petawawa. There are now almost 30 dogs registered to train in the program she offers. They can work with a range of people, in addition to veterans, including young children with autism spectrum disorder and seniors living with multiple sclerosis.

“I wanted to give that (ability to function and live) back, and give that opportunity to people as well,” she said.

She’s attending this year’s week-long intensive course to learn about branding her business and promoting it online using social media.

Finance student Salmaan Moolla is in his fourth year helping to organize and the put the program on. It’s being done in collaboration with Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur and Enactus, which run similar courses in Central and Eastern Canada.

The program at the U of R is the only one of its kind west of Ontario, he said.

Canadian veterans take part in a group discussion during a business boot camp as part of the University of Regina’s Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur program on Aug. 21, 2019. (Evan Radford/980 CJME)

Moolla said that over those four years, his perspective has changed.

“You find that you end up learning more from them than what you give to them; their experiences in the military, their experiences across the world, their camaraderie with each other and the family building that you have,” he said.

Moolla added that by the time the week is over, it’s hard not to shed a few tears at the airport when everyone says goodbye to each other.

Born in South Africa, Moolla said he feels grateful for what he learns from and gives back to veterans who’ve fought for his and other students’ ability to attend post-secondary institutions.

McLellan urged other veterans to be open with their business ideas, even if they’re just that. She said that’s how she first got started.

“Coming here, you’re meeting with old comrades, and getting to shoot the s–t in language that we understand. We’re all getting along,” she said. “So it’s not a stupid question if we’re all in the bubble together, bouncing off ideas.”

Veterans interested in applying to the program can do so here.