Serving Those Who Have Served Us
For America’s active duty military personnel and veterans, there is a critical shortage of service dogs to meet the demand. All too often, the price for inaction ends in isolation, alcoholism, drug abuse, poverty, homelessness, and worst of all, suicide.
THE VETERAN'S NEW MISSION
Veterans enrolled in our Canine-Assisted Warrior TherapyTM programs learn to train future service dogs for other injured comrades. Every Paws for Purple Hearts puppy helps 40-60 of our nation’s brave warriors before being assigned permanently to a single veteran for the remainder of the dog’s life.
Free Services to All Veterans
While other organizations rely on government funds or charge Veterans for their services, all services Paws for Purple Hearts offers are Free to Veterans. Donations from individuals & corporations ensure no Veteran will ever be turned away due to their financial situation.
Donations Help With:
Food and Dietary Supplements
In the course of their Service Dog Training, one dog will require $1,350 worth of premium food, supplements, and of course, treats for motivation while learning the 106 base commands and potentially more than 200 commands depending on the veteran’s individual needs. It is imperative our Paws for Purple Hearts Service Dogs live long and healthy lives to offset the cost of the overall training with extended service life.
Medicine, Vaccines, & Veterinary
Puppies are extremely vulnerable to illness, disease, parasites, and an array of potential medical issues. Paws for Purple Hearts incurs an average cost of $2,790 for each dog during training. Keeping a potential Service Dog happy and receptive to training, necessitates routine check-ups and preventive medicines. As any pet owner knows, there inevitably will a boo-boo or two along the way.
Training Equipment & Simulation Materials
Have you ever marveled at the amazing tasks a Service Dog can accomplish for a Wounded Veteran? From opening and retrieving items out of the refrigerator or dryer to pulling a wheelchair bound warrior up a ramp, or turning on lights and touching elevator buttons. These commands compel us to recreate or travel to an appropriate location to instruct the dogs on how to properly accomplish these duties. The average bill over the course of training for each dog is more than $2,500.
Opening New Doors & Keeping Them Open
The Paws for Purple Hearts business model affords Veterans that have been released from the Veterans Administration Healthcare System to continue their therapy for as long as they want at one of our facilities. The VA is a valuable partner and we are pleased to be able to help. This adds a significant cost to our infrastructure so we must optimize every dollar by improving the lives of 40-60 Veterans a year with each Service Dog in Training. It costs approximately $300,000/year to keep the doors open at our existing facilities and the same amount to open a new one.
Become a Volunteer
Want to show your support for our nation’s military heroes? Volunteer with Paws for Purple Hearts at one of our five facilities nation-wide or at one of the numerous Veterans hospitals or Veterans centers near you. We grew to 172 volunteers that contributed over 8,757 hours covering the entire spectrum of tasks supporting our programs.
We Need Your Support
Donation to Paws for Purple Hearts can change a warrior’s vision of life from hopelessness to optimism through the loving eyes of a faithful companion.
Your generous, tax-deductible donation to Paws for Purple Hearts will improve the lives of thousands of warriors facing the visible and invisible wounds of warfare and service. You will be restoring their independence and allowing these warriors to reintegrate into society in the nation they so bravely volunteered to defend.
Warriors Helping Warriors
Our next event:
San Diego Grand Opening
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Paws for Purple Hearts Success
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Dogs We've Deployed
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Therapy Session Participation (session slots filled) *Many Warriors attend multiple sessions*
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Lives We've Directly Improved
