SPRINGFIELD, MO. — A new nonprofit organization in Greene County, Mo. is providing service dogs for veterans at no cost to them.
John Lopez is a veteran himself and has a lot of experience in training dogs at the Howliday Inn and Standing Obeytion. He has worked with other groups that train dogs for Veterans for several years, but he just started K9s for Camo this year.
He’s doing it so he can help more veterans like Joshua Monroe, who has had his service dog, Boston, for a couple of years. Lopez helped train Boston to react to Monroe’s PTSD. He’ll wake him up from night terrors and even turn on a light. Out in public, he’ll have Monroe’s back.
Other dogs are trained to help veterans with diabetes, seizures and various other issues. Some have even cut back on medications because of their service dog.
Veterans like Monroe have seen a huge improvement in their quality of life.
“He lets me know when it’s time to stop just sitting there and being depressed,” Monroe said. “He makes me get up and take him on a walk, play within, he cheats at tug-of-war. But he’s one of the best things that’s happened to me in a very long time.”
All the dogs Lopez works with come from various rescue groups. He looks for certain characteristics, and the dogs go through three months of training, including one month at the Fordland Correctional Facility, before going to their veteran.
To learn more about K9s for Camo, visit the attached links.