These Organizations Help Take Care of Deployed Soldiers’ Dogs
We’ve all seen the videos of a soldier reuniting with his or her dog after returning from the deployment — lots of hugging, kissing and crying — and not just from the two on screen. The reunions are emotional for everyone watching.
Service members can’t bring their dogs with them when they are deployed, and if they don’t have family or friends to watch the dog for their extended time away, they typically surrender the dog to a shelter, where it will either be adopted or, in some overcrowded shelters, euthanized.
“Families fall apart during deployment,” says Alisa Johnson, who founded Dogs on Deployment, a nonprofit that pairs service members’ pets with foster families. She felt the need after she was sent to Marine Corps training while her husband was deployed with the Navy simultaneously, without anyone to watch their Australian Shepherd for the six months they’d be away.
The founders of the three national organizations below have a love for our country and a soft spot for dogs, and they built their groups on the premise that most people do, too. Here, they explain how they make sure that when military members return home, there’s a wagging tail to greet them.
Dogs on Deployment founders Alisa and Shawn Johnson with their Australian Shepherds (left); Alisa reuniting with her dog (far left)
Dogs on Deployment
Alisa couldn’t imagine giving her fur baby to a shelter, and professional boarding and kenneling were expensive. Together, in 2011, she and her husband founded a California-based nonprofit that enables service members to search online for a registered foster family to care for their pets.
“Think of it like match.com or a dating site,” says Alisa, who this year is retiring from the Marines to work full time with DoD as it expands.
Matches are made depending on household activity levels, other pets and travel schedules. The military member sets up automatic shipping for pet food and any other needs, and puts a credit card on file with his or her veterinarian — eliminating all costs for the foster family.
In addition to its foster network, DoD provides financial assistance for veterans, military families and emergency vet care. Last year, through its pet chit (the military term for a hall pass) grant program, DoD gave out $175 thousand.
“Every year we have seen a rise in the number of applications for both pet fostering and financial assistance,” Alisa says.
For more information, visit dogsondeployment.org.
Photo: Courtesy Terran Bayer | Westway Studio
Guardian Angels for Soldier’s Pet
In Texas, Linda Spurlin-Dominik, a daughter and widow of Army vets, started her organization in the early 2000s after she found that nearly 400 dogs and cats were picked up by animal control at Fort Rucker, a U.S. Army post in Alabama.
Since then, she’s gathered nearly 1,500 foster families nationwide, she says, and expanded her program to help active members and vets facing medical issues, homelessness and other transitional housing issues.
“It’s a major need for those who have companion animals,” says Linda, who places animals in foster homes for about 12 months while veterans figure out their living situations.
This year, Linda hopes to find the right volunteer trainer, so she can restart her Warriors’ Angels program, which trains service dogs to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Learn more at gafsp.org.
PACT for Animals
Buzz Miller, founder of Philadelphia-based PACT for Animals, personally finances a large part of his organization’s expenses.
“We are expanding so fast we are always short on money,” he says of his group of volunteers who individually match about 250 pets a year with 600 foster homes nationwide. They also offer free pet emergency services and 24-hour-a day support for both military and foster homes.
Buzz, a former lawyer and animal shelter volunteer, started his organization in 2011, inspired by the movie War Dogs: America’s Forgotten Heroes about Vietnam War troops and their dogs.
In 2013, PACT started working with children’s hospitals around Pennsylvania and now has expanded services to Arizona and Washington to match foster homes with pets belonging to kids suffering from serious illnesses like cancer and heart problems.
That program has been so high in demand that it’s recently grown to include hospitalized adults recovering from hip or knee replacements who can’t walk their dogs for six months.
During the fostering period, full transparency is encouraged through pictures, videos and updates.
Buzz says, “We want to encourage happiness between foster and owner.”
For more information, visit pactforanimals.org.
- Fostering is one way to contribute.
- Use your skillset — whether it’s legal services, marketing, IT or accounting — to help the back end of these nonprofits run smoothly.
- These groups are meant to help military families who are impacted by deployment. Share their causes on social media and by word of mouth.
Read Next: This Company Creates Hearing Protection for Military Dogs
Wow, this paragraph is fastidious, my younger sister is analyzing these things, therefore I am going to convey her.
This article will assist the internet users for building up new weblog
or even a blog from start to end.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly.
I am quite certain I’ll learn a lot of new stuff right here!
Good luck for the next!
It is not my first time to visit this web page, i am visiting this
web site dailly and take fastidious facts from here all the time.
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Opera.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something
to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know.
The design and style look great though! Hope you get
the issue resolved soon. Cheers
My partner and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I
might as well check things out. I like what I see so now i’m
following you. Look forward to checking out your web page for a second time.
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you, However I am having
problems with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I cannot subscribe to it.
Is there anybody else having similar RSS problems?
Anyone who knows the answer can you kindly respond?
Thanx!!
Hello everyone, it’s my first go to see at this website, and paragraph
is truly fruitful in support of me, keep up posting such content.
I like the helpful information you provide in your articles.
I will bookmark your blog and check again here frequently.
I’m quite sure I will learn a lot of new stuff right here!
Good luck for the next!
Yes! Finally something about website.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You obviously know what youre talking about,
why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could
be giving us something enlightening to read?
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter
a blog that’s both equally educative and engaging, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the
head. The issue is an issue that too few folks are speaking intelligently about.
I am very happy I stumbled across this in my search for
something concerning this.
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less.
I’ve been using WordPress on several websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform.
I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into
it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Excellent site you have here.. It’s hard to find high-quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate individuals like you! Take care!!
Spot on with this write-up, I actually believe this amazing site
needs a lot more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read through more, thanks for the
information!
This guide is an absolute treasure for any Lego
enthusiast. It showcases the unique and most fascinating sets.
You can be as creative as you want! Lego Lego blocks The Classic Lego sets are a
great starting point for beginners, providing endless possibilities for building and creating.
The attention to detail in recreating famous scenes and
characters is what truly sets Lego apart.
You can have a little piece of your favorite stories at your
fingertips.
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I
genuinely enjoy reading through your articles.
Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics?
Thanks for your time!
Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using?
I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m
having a tough time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had to ask!
Your style is so unique compared to other folks I have
read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you’ve got
the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this site.
For example, you can attempt out blackjack at Ignition with
no risk thanks to demo games.
Here is my web page – Play Online Casino
There’s definately a great deal to know about this topic.
I love all of the points you made.
Feel frse to visit my web page – 토토사이트 추천
In the fourth spot, we have Roaring 21 — a platform fro 2018,
which was also licensed by Curacao.
My webpage … Online Baccarat
Muslim law restricts
Feel free to visit my blog post; 토토사이트추천
The bets with the highest odds of success are on the banker or
tthe player.
Heere is my web blog :: Online Casino
This casino delivers a completely decentralized payment strategy
for its uers ass it is a bitcoin-only casino.
Take a look at my homepage; 온카홈페이지
Can you tell us more about this? I’d like to find out
more details.
We discovered the reside chat to live up to its guarantee of connecting
to an agent inside five-7 minutes.
My blog :: Best Online Casino
Punto Banco is a variation in which the casino generally acts
as the Dealer, and constantly actss as the Banker,for the ppurposes of the game.
Here iis my web page: Baccarat Rules
Gambling has normally been aspect of the nearby culture annd everyday life
in South Korea.
Here is my web page :: 온라인카지노검증
England are the only other side that South Korea have faced which is ranked
in tthe world’s top 10 in 2023.
Heree iis my website :: Susana
ラブドール 所有者の支出クリスマスと彼のダッチワイフでの感謝祭の経験
等身大ドール なぜ男性は実際に女性よりも等身大のダッチワイフに傾いているのですか？彼氏のために賢明なシリコン人形を購入する必要がありますか？保護された人形店をオンラインで選ぶにはどうすればよいですか？ラブドールが高齢者の情熱的なうつ病を和らげる方法
dark web links darknet links darkmarket 2024