Petco Love Investments Help Heroes at Both Ends of the Leash this Veteran’s Day
National nonprofit Petco Love awards nearly $1 million to support Helping Heroes this Veteran’s Day. Since 2009, Petco Love’s investment of more than $16 million bolsters efforts to train and support animals who dedicate their lives to saving and improving the lives of others. The “Helping Heroes” initiative focuses on those organizations that take pets from shelters and transform them into heroes to assist people in need, primarily our nation’s veterans.
A multi-phase research program at Purdue University indicates that veterans paired with service dogs showed lower PTSD symptom severity and better mental health. Purdue professor Maggie O’Haire said, “We’ve demonstrated that service dogs can provide a higher quality of life for some of our nation’s veterans living with PTSD. Expanded funding, like that provided by Petco Love, is essential to meet the demand to expand this much-needed research.”
“This Veteran’s Day, we are reminded that 18 veterans lose their lives every day to suicide. There is an overwhelming need for trained service and companion dogs to support their needs,” said Petco Love President Susanne Kogut. “We are honored to provide the vital support necessary to assure that more shelter dogs can become trained canine companions to help veterans—saving lives at both ends of the leash.”
This funding announcement follows the September 2021 grand opening of the new Petco Love K9 Center in San Antonio, TX, a facility made possible through an earlier $2 million commitment to K9s for Warriors. The new facility will expand efforts to train shelter dogs to become service dogs to improve the lives of veterans nationwide.
A selection of organizations receiving investments include:
Companions for Heroes: Trains animals from shelters or rescues to be either companions or help complete tasks for heroes with disabilities.
4 Paws 4 Patriots: Provides medical/psychiatric service dogs to change the lives of disabled veterans and their families.
K9 Partners For Patriots: Adopts qualifying shelter and rescue dogs to help veterans who are facing a war all over again as they cope with anxieties born of service-related PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and/or military sexual trauma.
Service Dogs: Builds better lives for Texans overcoming challenges through partnerships with custom trained assistance dogs provided free of charge.
National Disaster Search Dog Foundation: Strengthens disaster response in America by rescuing and recruiting dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders.
Working Dogs for Conservation: Whether it’s law enforcement, biosecurity or ecological monitoring, WD4C rescues and trains dogs to assist with conservation efforts.
Visit PetcoLove.org to learn more about Petco Love’s lifesaving impact spanning more than two decades and follow along on social media @Petcolove.