Misson Dog owner Gardner is March 18 Food for Thought guest

LEWISTON — USM/LA Senior College is presented heroes, dogs and new kinds of life-long learning in its March 18 Food for Thought.
Christy Gardner, founder and president of Mission Working Dogs, will be the guest at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 18. To get a link for the presentation, email laseniorcollege@gmail.com. Sign up by noon Wednesday, March 17, and a link will be sent thorugh email. Be sure to mention your name and the name of the program.
The Lewiston-based nonprofit trains purpose-bred dogs to aid individuals with disabilities. Gardner’s passion for dogs has deep, personal roots. Serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Military Police in Asia, she survived an injury in 2006 that eventually led her to match up with her golden retriever service dog named Moxie in 2010. The two became inseparable and Moxie has accompanied Gardner on many “missions” of their own, including competing with Team USA as an athlete on the Women’s Para Ice Hockey Team and on the USA Para Surfing Team.
Gardner is a world-ranked para thrower and is aspiring to make the US Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2021. As a certified dog trainer with nine years experience training service and therapy dogs and five years experience with breeding, Gardner has brought her dream of empowering others to fruition with the creation of Mission Working Dogs.
Gardner will introduce participants to her dogs Moxie, Doug and Libby, and talk about how service dogs can assist those with physical disabilities, PTSD, stroke patients and others. The dogs and their trainers create an environment in which the handler can live a life to the fullest and more independently.