By Jim Urquhart, Reuters
Dan McManus is a professional paragliding and hang gliding instructor in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has been flying for about 37 years and he can be found most days catching the breeze at the flight park on a mountain ridge at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley.
However, in recent years he has also been joined on many flights by his service dog Shadow. McManus suffers from a general anxiety disorder but manages to keep many of the symptoms in check with the constant companionship of his Australian cattle dog.
While flying itself has been a calming pursuit, he soon found out that his service dog never wanted to be away from him (a bit of separation anxiety for Shadow). The dog had even been to known to try to hold onto McManus’ boots with his teeth in order to get in the air. “It felt like he wanted to keep me safe.”
Around nine years ago McManus had a specialty harness made for Shadow, and the two have been flying together since. “This is home. He would rather be here than anywhere else. This is his freedom,” McManus said. Read the full story.
