Providing second chances to service veterans and shelter dogs, Paws and Stripes is a non-profit organization that assists wounded veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or traumatic brain injury by adopting and training shelter dogs to become service dogs. The dogs and training are provided at no cost to the veteran, and the organization only uses shelter dogs, providing not one but two rescues with every match they make.
At this time, because most insurance companies do not cover the costs associated with obtaining, training, and caring for service dogs for this purpose, there is a considerable gap in the care to cover the needs of our returning veterans. As the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan gradually come to a close and more troops return home, this need is growing significantly. Paws and Stripes, through the generous donations of its supporters, seeks to close this gap.
What makes the program especially unique is that, unlike many service dog programs and providers (all worthy and valuable in their own right), the dogs are not pre-selected from those trained and bred specifically for that purpose. For this program, the veteran is actively involved with finding and choosing a dog that they like best through local shelters or dog foster programs, thus giving the shelter dog a new lease (leash?) on life. That dog is then trained, with the veteran, by professional dog trainers who can adjust the training to the dog's personality, the veteran's personality, and the individualized needs of that veteran. It's a custom-made match, every time. The dogs are not pets when they graduate from the program (though they are certainly a part of the family). Each dog is an acknowledged working service dog and is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, like Miss Dallas pictured above, from their Facebook gallery of active service dogs.
For more information regarding how to help this amazing effort, please visit the Web site listed above, or find them on Facebook under "Paws and Stripes" when you search. Helping our veterans live in peace after what they've been through is one of the best gifts and thank yous we can give.
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