‘Puppy parents’ sought for veteran service dogs program
By Robert Mahosky
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Puppy parents to help puppies grow into veteran service dogs are in demand in Asheville, and it’s for a worthy cause.
Warrior Canine Connection, which invites veterans into the therapeutic mission and process of training service dogs that will be paired with fellow wounded warriors, is looking for puppy parents. The dogs live with their puppy raisers, and throughout the week need to come in and work different sessions with veterans. As the dogs in the program do not know who their future veterans will be, time with puppy raisers in different environments allows the dogs to learn how to read between the lines and not get confused when people don’t necessarily know the right commands.
Time growing up in a puppy parent household also allows the dogs to learn what is expected of them, so the dogs can make good decisions in the future.
“I volunteer to take the dogs home with me. They live in my house, they go everywhere I go. Our job is to socialize the dogs and then bring them into classes and then work with the veterans,” said Robin Martin, a volunteer puppy parent with the program. “We do a lot of veteran training here. The whole process behind our program is veterans training dogs for other veterans.”
“You are teaching them stress cues, you are taking them out in public, getting them used to different environments, which at the same time you are getting used to that,” explained Matthew Estridge, a veteran working in the program. “You are helping them build confidence. You can teach them to turn on lights…you can teach them all sorts of stuff.”
“It’s hard to give the dogs up,” Martin said. “When you see what these veterans get out of the program, it is well worth the tears that you shed when you bring them back.”
“I will miss him terribly, of course — my whole household will, but he’s going to do something bigger and better than he needs to do in my house,” said Michele Tate, Warrior Canine Connection program instructor.
Warrior Canine Connection’s Asheville-based location currently has three puppy parents, which means they only have three dogs in the program. They are looking for more.
“We’d love to be able to touch more veterans with our program, and we could do that if we had more puppy parents,” Martin said. “Outside of loving on the dog, this isn’t a hard thing to do. It’s the easiest job I’ve had in my entire life.”
To become a puppy parent and for more information about Warrior Canine Connection, visit warriorcanineconnection.org.
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