In 8 Years The Veterans Administration Has Only Given Out 2 Service Dogs?

This is unbelievable to read an article like this, you would have thought that all these years our brothers and sisters that helped protect our country would have had no problem receiving a service dog.

Neil Eckrich the director of the canine program said: Although the canine program's Web site touts that it routinely gives veterans service dogs, only two dogs have been paired with veterans since Congress authorized the program in 2001.

It just shows that the government doesn’t know how to handle anything, when it comes to helping our soldiers. The article explains how William Callahan had to give up on hope of getting a service dog after four years and found his own dog from a nonprofit group.

So what is a service dog

A service dog is a type of assistance dog, specifically trained to help people who have disabilities other than visual or hearing impairment, or medical response dogs. Service dogs do not have to have pedigrees: desirable character traits, good conformation, and good health are more important. Service dogs are sometimes trained and bred by private organizations. In other cases, a disabled handler may train their own dog with or without the aid of a private dog trainer. It may be called a "service dog" or an "assistance dog."
The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) defines "service dog" under its broader definition of "service animal". "Service Animal" (ADA Subsection 36.104): "Any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding people with impaired vision, alerting people with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items."


Read the article by Arelis Hernandez here.