Veteran needs a service dog

Tayden is a disabled veteran. He started volunteering at Helping Hounds project just walking dogs. He didn’t have words for why he needed to walk dogs but he new it helped calm him. Until one day he met Zen.

Zen was a dog the rescue took in due to lack of a job, and a family who didn’t truly understand what having a herding dog meant. But Homemade Hounds saw so much more in him!

Seeing how smart and human oriented he was… Zen was originally trained for pediatric service. For a year and a half, he and his handler worked together in harmony and life was good. After a traumatic neck injury… Zen came back to Homemade Hounds a changed dog. He had lost the ability to connect and didn’t really attach to people. It took weeks of rehabilitation to overcome the neck injury and traumatic response enough to get back to being a dog… but he was so far from being “Zen”.  After being trained for such specific tasking… he was missing the most vital part of being Zen… work and connection!

But that day… Zen found it! Tayden put a leash on him and took him for a walk and he responded to him as if he were the only person that mattered in the world. Tayden and Zen gave each other what they were both missing…“confidence”. 

Although Zen was previously trained, his training needs to be redone to be tailored to Tayden’s specific needs. After fully healing and rehabbing, Zen has proven to be an excellent companion and working partner for Tayden. This partnership has been amazing for both dog and handler.

Steven’s training, certifications, shots, neutering, medications, and equipment is approximately $30,000. This is standard for a service dog. The amount of hours and the knowledge poured into the dog to specifically train it for a person in depth. 

You being apart of this journey for Zen and Tayden would be a testimony of the American people and your willingness to serve two lives that would support a wounded warrior that was willing to give his life to protect yours.