Patriot PAWS Service Dogs

On April 1, 2018, I will launch “Paddle for Patriot PAWS” – a 400 plus mile Stand Up Paddleboard trip up the coast of Texas to raise awareness and money for Patriot PAWS Service Dogs.  Patriot PAWS is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Rockwall, TX, that trains and provides service dogs at no cost to disabled American veterans.  One hundred percent of all donations will go directly to Patriot PAWS to support their mission.

 

Starting at Boca Chica Beach at the Texas-Mexico border, I will travel solo – without a support crew – paddling north until I reach the Texas-Louisiana border at Port Arthur.  My goal is to travel roughly 30 miles a day, camping on the beach as I go.  Please visit my website to learn more about the trip.

 

Patriot PAWS is an amazing organization with a passionate following of supporters. Not only do they place service dogs with disabled veterans across the nation, but their innovative volunteer programs are positively impacting people from college campuses to prison cells.  To learn more about Patriot PAWS, please visit their website and follow them on Twitter Instagram and Facebook.

 

Your donation, big or small, will help train service dogs for disabled veterans who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.


Follow me on Instagram @aaron_overland
https://aaronoverland.org/paddleforpatriotpaws/

Hi! My name is Mulligan, and I want to be a service dog when I grow up! I’m a service dog in training at Patriot PAWS Service Dogs in Rockwall, Texas. Patriot PAWS is a national training center for dogs whose mission is to help disabled American veterans with mobility disabilities and/or post-traumatic stress (PTS) restore their physical and emotional independence.

Every day I wake up with one goal in mind: to graduate from Patriot PAWS and find my forever home with a veteran who needs me. But becoming a service dog isn’t easy! I work with my trainers daily to learn to do everyday things like open doors, help with the laundry, bring the phone and pick up dropped items. But I’m also learning to do more complicated things like be a barrier for someone in a crowd, do perimeter checks at home, wake someone who is having nightmares and distract someone who is having waking flashbacks. They practice these things with me over and over again so that one day, I can use my skills to help a disabled veteran.

Here at Patriot PAWS, we have two resident cats who work as dog trainers. One of them is named Leo & he’s pretty cool, for a cat. I was talking with Leo just the other day, and he said that my tuition over the 18-24 months that it will take for me to become a fully-trained service dog will cost about $34,000! That’s a LOT of kibble! Leo also said that when I’m ready, Patriot PAWS will give me to a disabled veteran at no charge to the veteran! I asked him how they can do that, and he said that it is only made possible through donations. WOW! We agreed that you humans are purr-ty amazing! (OK, Leo thought of that one.)

So, amazing humans, will you please donate to my tuition? There are SO many veterans who could really benefit from having a service dog, but due to the high cost of training, the wait list at Patriot PAWS is currently up to five years, and that’s an awfully long time to wait. If you make a donation, Patriot PAWS can not only use the money to train me but to start training other pups like me to help more veterans get the help they need faster. And Leo said that if you donate $25 or more, he’ll mail you a Patriot PAWS t-shirt so you can show everyone that you support Patriot PAWS Service Dogs! Now how cool is THAT!

I’d love to meet you! You can meet me, the other trainees, Leo and his fellow feline, Eli, and take a tour of our training facility all by just calling ahead to get on our schedule. Rockwall, Texas is located about 30 minutes east of Dallas.

THANK YOU for your donation! It will mean the world to a disabled veteran to receive a service dog, and now you can say, “And I helped!”

More info: http://www.patriotpaws.org/