hen Valerie Parrott of
Sioux Falls, S.D., was prepar-
ing for her wedding day in
2016, she knew right away
that Bella was going to be by
her side. “It became a no-
brainer that she would just
walk down the aisle with me and be up there with
us, because she’s a part of the family,” Valerie says
of her 7-year-old service dog. “She’s a part of me
in general.” Bella is a certified service dog in two
ways: as a medical alert dog for Valerie’s migraines
and as a psychiatric service dog for her agorapho-
bia and crippling anxiety. Psychiatric service dogs
are paired with people who have a diagnosable psy-
chiatric impairment; they are trained to perform
certain tasks that might include helping navigate
distracting public situations or alerting and redi-
recting their handler when they sense, say, a panic
attack coming on. Valerie, who had struggled to
function in these chaotic environments before
Bella came into her world more than five years ago,
says that “she gave me my life back.”
Bella, a yellow Lab, played an important role on
Valerie’s wedding day. “I could kind of tell that my
anxiety was starting to get high, and so could Bella,”
says Valerie. “Any bride has anxiety on her wedding
day. I just had the added bonus of Bella being able
to tell me before it got bad and being able to help
me calm down so that I could enjoy the day.” Val-
erie stepped aside from her bridesmaids, and when
Bella leaned against her legs, Valerie crouched
down so that she could be on Bella’s level. The ser-
vice dog placed her head in the bride’s lap, alertingA FOUR-LEGGED
SOURCE OF
RELIEF
Pets and emotional-support animals
provide unconditional love for those
suffering from stress and anxiety