Soldier’s Best Friend will hold a Veteran Dog Fair in Peoria on September 21st. The event provided free food and free dog vaccines for veterans, their families and their companion dogs. (Photo by Nash Darragh/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Two Arizona-based organizations, Soldiers Best Friend and Arizona Humane Society (AHS), are working to ensure both the mental health of veterans and the health of their pets and service animals during and after their service. We support military families.
Project Active Duty is an AHS program launched in response to the 9/11 attacks. This initiative, in partnership with PetSmart Charities and Credit Union West, provides foster care for deployed military pets from all military branches, giving active-duty military members peace of mind knowing their pets will be waiting for them when they get home. We provide.
Each year, the program sees between 5 and 10 pets in need of support while their owners are deployed. AHS foster program director Carrie Hughes told the story of Sabo, a 2-year-old husky who has been in the program for more than two years while his owner served overseas.
“I think it’s a great connection for volunteers and foster families to know they’re supporting someone who is serving our country,” Hughes said. “It is such a relief for our serving community to know that their pets are safe and that they can go home and be reunited with them when their errands are done.”
Initially funded by a grant from PetSmart Charities, Project Active Duty relies on donations from the community. The long-term goal of this program is to provide continued support for service members and their pets.
Meanwhile, Soldier’s Best Friend in Peoria is a shelter program in Arizona that not only rescues dogs, but also trains them to serve as service and support animals for veterans. This training is designed to support veteran owners living with PTSD. Mik Milem is the organization’s executive director and has been with the nonprofit since its founding in 2011.
“Our mission is to bring dogs (with) U.S. military veterans who are living with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury,” Millem said. “Most of them were rescued from local shelters here in Arizona. They trained together in our program for about nine months until the dog qualified as a service dog for a veteran. I will accept it.”
To date, more than 400 teams of veterans and dogs have graduated from the program. In addition to helping veterinarians train dogs already in their care, Soldier’s Best Friend has rescued more than 300 dogs from the streets and local shelters. Dogs and owners train together to get the most benefit from the program.
“That means they train with one of our trainers twice a week for an hour each time, and then they have to train with the dog for an hour a day, an additional five days a week. This means you must log 180 hours of training to graduate,” said Milem. “We have 16 trainers across the state. So we’re a statewide organization. So our main campus is here in Peoria, but we have facilities all over Phoenix.”
The organization also hosts events such as the Veteran Dog Fair in Peoria on September 21st. The event provided free food and free dog vaccines for veterans, their families and their companion dogs.
Sharyn Conway is a returner to the program. Conway and her late dog, Bijou, were the first graduates in 2011. When Bijou died, Conway returned with a new dog, Sodality.
“I’ve been involved with Soldier’s Best Friend since it first opened, and Bijou was the very first graduate,” Conway said. “I was severely agoraphobic, had severe PTSD, and was not functioning, but I used dogs to help me start healing.”
