Veteran Service Dog Program
Providing lifesaving dogs at no cost to veterans who have served our country.
About Our Program
Our program provides a service dog to veterans at no cost, or offers training to a dog that the veteran brings into our program. They go through all classes that we offer, AKC STAR Puppy, Basic Obedience, Canine Good Citizen, Canine Good Citizen Advance, Canine Good Citizen Urban and are extended private training lessons for 1-to-1 lessons on task training their service dog to help mitigate their specific disability.
Keith’s Story
After Keith was medically discharged from the U.S. Army the trauma from his time in service did not. Years went by fighting an unseen battle that he himself did not know he was in. After an attempted suicide he realized he needed help and could not fight on his own anymore. After years of therapy through the Veteran’s Affairs and handfuls of medications, he was presented with the idea of how possibly a medical service dog could help. After researching cost of training and the multiple organizations nation wide that specialize in veteran service dogs he found K9’s for Warriors. This amazing organization was his turning point. After a lengthy application process and waiting list he was accepted into their program. After successfully graduating their program with the rescue/shelter dog Saor the adventure of being a service dog team began. Life was not easier but with him at Keith’s side, he knew he was never alone in his battles. After 4 years of being a service dog team Keith wanted to give back in any way possible, so he began volunteering at a local veteran service dog organization called A Veteran’s Best Friend and did so for almost two years. With the aid of Service dog Saor, Keith was able to get off of all of his pharmaceutical medications from the VA. And began realizing that his true purpose was aiding in the fight against veteran suicide.
