Training Service Dogs
June 24, 2020
A local veteran organization has been awarded part of a $10 million federal grant that will provide placement and training of service dogs for disabled veterans.
Scotty Deatherage, founder and executive director of Oklahoma-based Honoring America’s Warriors (HAW), says the organization will benefit greatly from this grant.
“The purpose of the grant is to provide veterans who need mobility and or psychiatric service dogs at no cost,” said Deatherage. “It ensures that the highest quality service dogs are being placed with disabled veterans who need them.”
“It is heartbreaking that 20 veterans take their own lives each day,” said retired USAF Major General and HAW board president Rita Aragon. “We must do more to help those with physical, mental and other service-connected forms of trauma”. Providing service dogs to veterans is a proven theory, but for many, the cost associated with training and raising these animals is too great. Honoring America’s Warriors service dog program began in 2015 and this is their second federal award in the past two years.