Petco Foundation Funding Provides Service Dogs to Disabled Veterans

Topic: Charities and Donations
Author: Petco Foundation
Published: 2015/11/10 - Updated: 2021/07/17
Contents: Summary - Introduction - Main Item - Related Topics

Synopsis: The Petco Foundation honors U.S. Veterans by awarding nearly $300,000 to provide love and service of a dog to disabled veterans. A service dog is defined as a type of assistance dog trained to help people with disabilities, such as visual impairment, hearing impairments, mental illnesses like PTSD, seizure disorder, mobility impairments, and health conditions. To date we've been able to help nearly 200 military heroes by pairing them with a service dog that has been trained for their specific needs.

Introduction

Helping Heroes grants made to organizations throughout the country to support placement of service and therapy dogs to veterans with physical and emotional disabilities.

Main Item

A service dog is defined as a type of assistance dog trained to help people with disabilities, such as visual impairment, hearing impairments, mental illnesses like PTSD, seizure disorder, mobility impairments, and health conditions such as diabetes. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person's disability.

The Petco Foundation announced nearly $300,000 in grant funding to provide service and support dogs to our nation's veterans with physical and emotional disabilities. Through its annual Helping Heroes campaign, the Petco Foundation's investments will support the training and placement of dogs supporting veterans with hearing, vision or physical disabilities, or emotional disabilities - including PTSD.

The first eight organizations to receive these grants are:

"A staggering number of veterans returning from combat suffer from PTSD - the invisible wounds of war," said Shari Duval, president and founder, K9s For Warriors. "To date we've been able to help nearly 200 military heroes by pairing them with a service dog that has been trained for their specific needs. We are so grateful for this funding, which will help our organization continue to empower these veterans to return to civilian life with dignity and independence."

According to the HABRI Foundation, research in animal-assisted therapy shows that pets can play an important role in addressing symptoms of PTSD. In fact, the simple act of bonding with a pet elevates levels of the hormone oxytocin, also known as the "bonding hormone," which is said to lower levels of anxiety and depression, helping to over-come anxiety and decrease heart rate.

"These grants are a continuation of our commitment to support the heroes serving our country. With approximately $1M committed to various programs to aid and honor military working dogs and disabled veterans, we are honored to invest in the future of our veterans returning home in their time of need," said Susanne Kogut, executive director, Petco Foundation.

"These dedicated dogs provide very specific services to veterans to give them a new sense of freedom and independence. More importantly, however, we believe it is the love and companionship that these dogs provide that really makes the most difference in their daily lives."

The Petco Foundation will continue to announce Helping Heroes grant recipients through early 2016. Since 2012, the annual campaign has celebrated service and therapy animals nationwide, helping to raise approximately $7M for organizations across the country, made possible through donations from customers in Petco stores and corporate sponsor, Natural Balance.

Attribution/Source(s):

This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its significant relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Petco Foundation, and published on 2015/11/10 (Edit Update: 2021/07/17), the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For further details or clarifications, Petco Foundation can be contacted at petcofoundation.org. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranties or endorsements related to this article.

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Cite This Page (APA): Petco Foundation. (2015, November 10 - Last revised: 2021, July 17). Petco Foundation Funding Provides Service Dogs to Disabled Veterans . Disabled World. Retrieved October 9, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/charity/petco.php

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