This is a great article about an organization that matches rescue dogs with returning Vets enabling both to heal and grow.

K9s for Warriors Gives Shelter Dogs and Veterans New Leash on Life

By Caroline Golon

Photo courtesy of K9s for Warriors Facebook pageclick image to enlarge

For U.S. veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a service dog can be a life line, bringing them back to normalcy and helping them feel safe again. And, for nearly 100 veterans and counting, that’s just what non profit organization, K9s for Warriors, has done.

Founded in 2011 by Shari Duval, whose own son suffered from PTSD after two tours in Iraq, K9s for Warriors trains service dogs and pairs them with veterans struggling with PTSD.

But these service dogs have had struggles of their own. They’re abandoned or homeless dogs that have been rescued from shelters and trained to assist our nation’s heroes. “We save the dogs,” says Sandi Capra, the organization’s director of development. “But the dogs save the warriors.”

Capra, whose family has been impacted by the help of K9s for Warriors, says they work with a network of shelters to select the dogs and bring them to organization’s training center in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Depending on the dog’s temperament, history and the type of support they will need to give their partner veteran, it could take from four weeks to up to six months to train each dog to be ready for duty. “Each dog is trained for a specific warrior’s needs,” says Capra.

Once the dogs are ready to meet their partners, training with the warriors begins. Each training class includes three to five veterans who live on-site at the Ponte Vedra Beach facility with their dogs for three weeks to learn the skills needed to train their dogs. The organization underwrites the program costs through donations.

Photo courtesy of K9s for Warriors Facebook pageclick image to enlarge

Throughout the training, participants learn about their dogs, lean on each other for support and enjoy the family atmosphere perpetuated by Duval. “Not a person graduates from the program who doesn’t call her ‘Mom,’” says Capra. “Even one colonel who came through the program and insisted on calling her Ms. Duval, ended up calling her Mom,” Capra says with a laugh. “And she treats them all like her kids. She nurtures and supports them but gives them tough love when they need it!”

The transformation in the veterans after they’ve been through the program is incredible, says Capra.

One young woman in her twenties could barely make eye contact with anyone in her training class when she arrived. “She was so shut down and timid with her dog,” says Capra. But things changed. “By the middle of the second week, she showed up one morning and her dog had a new collar, black with pink skulls on it,” says Capra with a laugh. The warrior had taken her new dog to the pet store and couldn’t resist getting her the collar. “By the end of the three weeks, this young woman was beaming and even did a TV interview with the local news! It was amazing.”

Participating veterans report that their dogs have helped them become less anxious, wean themselves off medications, rejoin society and re-engage with their loved ones.

For Capra, watching the lives of the veterans and the dogs improve so significantly never ceases to amaze her. “These dogs are life changing. It’s moving to have such a small part in helping change the lives of our country’s heroes. I come home from work with a smile on my face every day.”