Transcript

Well, Liberty Dogs, a wonderful new organization in our area helping connect veterans with the dogs trained to meet their specific needs. And there is a really great kind of subset of this program, these shelter foster dog program. And I'm Maggie Sawyer here, the director of the shelter program for Liberty Dogs, to talk to us about this because it's a great opportunity to help kind of ease the stress on its shelters. So first, before we get into that, I want to talk a little bit about what Liberty Dogs is for those who may not be as familiar. Yeah. So Liberty Dogs as a national dog training organization that trains service dogs for a US veterans with PTSD. Wonderful. So not only are you getting dogs that are bred for that purpose, but you're reaching out to shelters. And this is an effort to, as I mentioned, ease kind of the shelter burden and help as many veterans as possible. Yeah, absolutely. So our program pulls from high euthanasia regions, mostly in Central California, but some parts of Northern California. As well. And so we rescue those dogs and they we bring them to campus and we train them. And so we're actively looking for volunteers who will help foster. So we'll be doing the training process, but we're looking for volunteers who will give them a safe place as we go through the training process with them and eventually place them in their homes with their veterans. Yeah, you have this beautiful new campus in South Reno. We've all been kind of watching it get built and grow. But in order to meet the veteran needs, you're going to need these volunteers to help with the shelter dog so. What exactly is that going to entail and what kind of help do the fosters receive? Yeah, So there's a lot of different volunteer opportunities. There's short term, so you could foster for just a day or two. They're weekend foster, so they would train at our facility for five days a week. And then you would volunteer over the weekend and foster the dogs. Or there's what we call our long-term fosters. And those are fosters who are with that dog for that journey for six to nine months until graduation. They're a big part of the process. And they would drop off kind of like a a child at daycare you. Off up in the morning and then you pick up in the evening. And our team trains during the week. Wonderful. Let's talk a little bit about the services that these dogs do provide for our veterans. Yeah. So these are highly trained service dogs. So our team, they're not only shelter professionals, they're professional dog trainers too. So these dogs are highly trained in task work to help assist veterans once they're placed. OK, so you're going to these shelters. What kind of specific dogs are you looking for to help make sure that they're successful in this program? Well, our first criteria. Large breed dogs within this age limit that we're looking for between one and three years and we're looking for largely because these are the highest risk dogs in these shelters. And so it's a multi day assessment. And then once they're assessed, we actually very carefully match them for their foster homes as well. Wonderful. I mean, sometimes it might be a little hit in this of it ends up being the fact that this might not be the career for the dogs. What happens to them? Oh my gosh, we have so many different alternative placements. So we have therapy dog placements. Facility dog placements, hearing dog placements or they could serve as a as a comfort dog for a veteran family or an honour of a lost veteran. So there are a lot of placement options for our dogs and we're able to adopt them. The foster families yes absolutely. So our fosters have what's called first right of refusal. So if we are not able to find an appropriate working placement, absolutely they are encouraged to adopt their foster dog. Wonderful. So if people are interested in that they're hearing this at home right now and saying you know I think. That might be something we could do. What are the steps for them to contact you? Go to libertydogs.org now and fill out the application. It's a really easy process. The more fosters we have, the more dogs we can rescue. So you really are saving a life when you agree to foster with Liberty Dogs. Wonderful. So what is next for Liberty Dogs? We've again, I mentioned, we've been watching this campus really take shape and we know that it's going to do amazing things for veterans. So what's next? Well, in our shelter program, we have an exciting new program called the Veteran Train Program. And that's where dogs are actually matched immediately with their veteran and their families and they can start the training process on campus with us. And that's anywhere from a nine month process to a little over a year until graduation. So that's a great opportunity for our local US veterans. Wonderful. So if you want any more information on not only just Liberty Dogs, but also this shelter foster program within the organization, reach out to them. You find more information on their website as well. Maggie, thank you so much for being here. Ohh, thank you so much for having me. We'll be right back.