Pet care business give boost to local non-profit serving heroes through service dogs

TAMPA, Fla. - Daisy, a six-month-old Labrador, is preparing for her future owner with Valor Service Dogs. The non-profit trains and places dogs with combat wounded veterans and first responders.

"Our PTSD dogs are trained to recognize signs of anxiety, interrupt someone's nightmares, kind of initiate contact if they notice their recipient is nervous or uncomfortable, and they're kind of a friendly loving face when they need it," said Carol Lansford, the executive director of Valor Service Dogs. "Retrieving unnamed dropped items is a huge thing for our dogs that end up being mobility dogs."

The job of these pups is important, and it takes a caring village to keep Valor Service Dogs going. Lansford said the entire mission is funded completely by donations. 

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Individuals and businesses lend a helping hand. One of the larger donors, Scoop Soldiers, deals in the dirty job of dog care by scooping poop. 

Josh Cahill, the president of Scoop Soldiers, said contributing to Valor Service Dogs was a no-brainer.

"We were just blown away by Valor mainly because of the number of dogs that they were able to place each year," said Cahill. "It seemed to be a lot more than organizations of the same type. I love the fact that it was run by all volunteers which just blew me away that you could train volunteers how to train these animals. Of course, we have a heart for and have so much respect for somebody who would give their time, give their efforts and serve our country."

And donors like Scoop Soldiers are helping Valor grow, so they can serve more veterans. Lansford said they've donated at least more than $50,000.

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"They're funding part of our capital campaign, which is a build out in one of our buildings so that we can breed our own puppies so that we don't have to rely on other service dog donations," said Lansford.

Cahill said he's been moved to keep track of dogs like Daisy as they prepare to serve.

"We're just dog lovers and so to see the progress of the dogs, we follow them on Facebook. So proud we cried to see that the dog had like grown up and could do all these awesome things to help her new hero," said Cahill.

The veterans receiving these dogs from Valor are also getting a bonus from Scoop Soldiers. 

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"To take the worst chore of dog ownership off their plate we're happy to do so. How do you give back to somebody whose served our country? It's just a little way we can do it and the fact that we get to see the cute dogs it's just like icing on top of the cake," said Cahill.

For more information on Valor Service Dogs, visit valorservicedogs.org. For more information about Scoop Soldiers, visit www.scoopsoldiers.com.