Don't forget to thank a Veteran today or take one home!

Since today, November 11, 2009 is Veteran’s Day it would only be right to give recognition to military personnel/Veterans that sometimes are overlooked and deserve praise as well.

The Military Working Dog Foundation’s is a foundation for military working dogs that have served in the military and upon retirement sometimes are placed in civilian homes or continue into law enforcement.

The Military Working Dog Foundation’s mission is to aid law enforcement agencies in the in need of support and or gear for their K-9’s and or adopt out to homes.

The Military Working Dog Foundation has added new missions to their group as well, to aid in the adoption of rescued Dogs, (especially German Shepard’s, Labradors and the other type of “detection dogs”). Also the Military Working Dog Foundation seeks to aid organizations and provide training of Service Dogs for people with disabilities.

The Military Working Dog Foundation is quoted as saying "we want to be sure that the dogs - who have served faithfully all their lives to protect our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- have the care and medical treatment they deserve in their older years."

Public Law 106-446 makes the Department of Defense military working dogs available for adoption to law enforcement agencies, former handlers of these dogs, and other persons capable of caring for these dogs.

If you are thinking of adopting a dog or have any special needs, consider one of these working dogs, as they will not disappoint you and have served their country well.

If you would like to donate to such a great cause this Veteran's day, please do!

Helping others, one dog at a time

I love reading about good organizations and exceptional people that do things for the good of others, and I stumbled upon a article about Lori Stevens.

Lori Stevens~ a award-winning certified pet trainer (CPDT) in Rockwall,Texas has a heart of gold and is passionate about helping others through her work with the Disabled Veterans. She founded an organization in February of 2006 called the Patriot Paws Service Dogs (a 501C3 organization) and has great success. Her goal is to “give back the freedoms that were lost to the disabled veterans and help them in their struggle to live as independently as possible”.

Lori has paired up with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the inmates are trained and supervised while training the dogs. It is a great way to keep the inmates interested in something, help humanity and do good and maybe make up for some of the decisions made in their lives.

Training these dogs does not come cheap as it runs about 20,000 to train one dog from start to finish and they soley rely on donations. All training is approved and supervised by Lori and her Patriot Paws staff. It takes over a year to train one service dog and the recipient will have to travel to Rockwall to spend some time with the dog and Lori before being given the dog.

Lori has been on the David Letterman show and Animal Planet’s “Pet Star”. I am sure there are a million stories done on this great woman and wonderful organization and I just wanted to be a part of sharing it. She also had a story done on Nightly News with Brian Williams May, 2009.

If you are interested in helping Lori and Patriot Paws, please feel free to donate and or visit their site. If you are a a Veteran and would like to fill out an application for a service dog, please do. If you would like to volunteer your time, Patriot Paws needs dog walkers, dog bathers, errand runners and volunteers to help raise money.