Meet Archer, the service dog who works at Navarre Press

I’m not lying when I say Archer is the best dog in the world.

We all respectfully keep our distance, but count down the days until Tuesday, when he comes into the newsroom with Bethany on a work-related matter. He is then released to see all of his friends – meaning the rest of us.

He offers some of us his soft face to pet and presents others with his hind quarters for a satisfying haunch scratch. But he always checks with Bethany first, putting his feet on her shoulders, making sure she’s OK before he runs across the room.

Bethany describes her life as crumbling at the moment Archer came into it two years ago. She didn’t know she needed him until she had him.

Her ‘aha’ moment was in the grocery store in the crazy days leading up to Thanksgiving when she and Archer and her young son were buying groceries.

Her son was driving her crazy, asking for everything. She raised what she calls her “knife hand,” meaning her palm was flat and her fingers pressed together, about to start scolding him in the middle of the store.

Archer walked between them and jumped up on her shoulders.

“Hey, calm down,” he was telling her.

And the 11-year-Air Force veteran, who suffers from PTSD, realized she did need Archer. They have been a team ever since.

Help Navarre Press give a veteran like Bethany a dog like Archer by donating whatever you can afford.

Almost all of the dogs, including Archer, are rescues themselves, who are taught to become service dogs.

Save a veteran. Rescue a dog.