A Veteran's Best Friend

A Veteran's Best Friend was founded to assist Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in their journey healing and reintegrating back into civilian life. Our team approach involves a canine, a dog trainer, a chaplain, a PTSD therapist, and community support. We accept and work with Veterans of all faiths.

Our program is available to Veterans at no cost to them, and our Veterans are actively involved with the training of the dog early in the program. This reduces the financial burden and waiting time for the Veteran - allowing them to start healing faster.

We are an owner-trained Service Dog training program. This means that the Veteran attends each training session and takes the dog home and practices until the next session. We do this so that the canine bonds with the Veteran instead of bonding with the trainer.

Our dogs come from local rescue shelters, organizations, and donors. They are assessed for Service Dog qualities and temperaments before they are admitted into the program. Dogs who do not complete the program are rehomed in the community.