Justin Lansford with his Warrior Canine Connection service dog Gabe at the first-ever Military Benefit Association Wounded Warrior vs NFL Redskin Alumni flag football game Nov 16, 2013 in Arlington, VA. (Photo from Gabe’s Facebook page.)
I bumped into a great post from Dog Bless You the other night. Not somewhere I follow, and I only saw it because I was looking at the Warrior Canine Connection page and they’d linked it because they were mentioned, but they flat nailed things here.
“People ask us daily why we support breeding service dogs in addition to rescuing and training those that overpopulate shelters across the United States.
Did you know that the standard waiting list to receive a service dog free of charge from a nonprofit organization can be up to two years long? That the demand and need for these highly-trained dogs is overwhelming?
Roughly 22 war veterans take their own lives daily. How many of those veterans might have benefited from participating in a program that trains a service dog, or what if one of those veterans who was disabled had received a service dog themselves?
We support several nonprofit organizations such as K9s For Warriors, Canines for Service, and Soldier’s Best Friend, all who train fabulous rescued canines to be service dogs. We also support programs like Warrior Canine Connection, Service Dog Project, and East Coast Assistance Dogs, Inc., all who breed their dogs for health, temperament, and the ability to train dogs from puppy hood who learn an astounding number of tasks for their disabled humans. Not one of the dogs born from these programs have wasted a potential job for a shelter dog – they were born and raised to help people, and all of them have. Every life born from these programs reaches immeasurable potential, whether their mission is to become service dogs, super companion dogs, or therapy dogs – these programs are not at fault for our nation’s overpopulation problem. They are saving humans’ lives.
If you want to participate in activism regarding the population problem, volunteer with a rescue. Rescue your own companion from a high-kill shelter and be proud that you saved a life. Educate people about spay and neuter opportunities. Dog Bless all of you for caring so deeply about animals. We are lucky to have you here.”
Not a new subject and a common discussion in the assistance dog world – I’ve written about it here a number of times – although these comments were a very strong and outstanding addition to it, and I would suggest anyone with an interest in assistance dogs take them to heart. But that’s not what I wanna key on here.
Something I don’t ever see discussed, particularly with subjects that generate controversy like this one does, is that when you a take a position on those subjects – especially if you’re out looking for an assistance dog for yourself, but also if you’re looking for one for someone else or a place to support – there are ramifications and that will drive things, maybe far beyond what you realize when you take that position.
Now, it’s not my place to tell you what to think. My approach with anybody who comes to me looking for help – and I’ve said this here many times – is that I can tell you what I think and offer you my best advice and guidance based on many years experience deeply involved in this world, but, ultimately, you have to make your own decisions. I just want you to make those decisions with the best information possible and understand what comes with them.
And that’s the way you need to operate as someone looking for a dog for yourself, or for someone else, or for a place to support. Because, regardless of where you fall on a number of subjects, whatever you decide is gonna have ramifications and drive what you do. And a lotta times when I see somebody take a position about something, particularly if it’s somebody looking for a dog for themselves, I’m not sure they really realize just how much what they’ve said is gonna drive things for them if they are hard over about it.
So, for example, in the above discussion, if you say you only want a dog that’s a rescue, or you will only support someplace that uses rescues, then you have ruled out a number of top-notch organizations that only use purpose bred dogs.
Or if you say you’ll only consider organizations that serve only veterans…
Or, like a veteran I saw post a few months ago, you want to raise and train the puppy that will become your service dog…
Or if you say you don’t like Labrador or Golden Retrievers…
Or you want to have a particular breed, especially a controversial one like a pit bull…
And the list goes on and on. All things that are very much your call, but that are also all things that are gonna drive the show and that come with other things attached.
Again, it’s not a question of my trying to argue with you about what’s best or right or wrong and convince you. I can only give you my best opinion, but I’m not gonna try to tell you what to think – that’s not my place. And I’m really past the arguing, anyway – I don’t have time for it, there’s plenty of places you can argue already, and for free, and you don’t need to come to me to do that, waste your time and mine, and maybe pay for the privilege as well.
But I can’t emphasize strongly enough that you do need to be very clear about the consequences of your choices, and be willing to reassess those priorities as you go through the process, because it’s highly likely you’re not gonna get everything on your list. Even at the very best organizations out there – you are gonna have to wait for a dog from one of them, it’s just a question of how long, and I’d pretty much bet the farm that “waiting” is not on your list.
All stuff to keep in mind as you go through the process of looking for an assistance dog or for a place to support. A philosophical argument or discussion often takes on a whole different character and tone when you are involved in that process and it becomes personal for you.
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