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There are several solutions to treat PTSD, but for some people, service dogs can help.

Service dogs can be trained for a variety of conditions, but one dog can cost up to $25,000 and take two years to train.

Tonight we talked to an organization dedicated to training service dogs for our military and first responders.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

From Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to Everybody with Angela Williamson, an innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

Mike from Working Dogs with Warriors is here with us tonight.

And you brought a friend?

I did, I brought a special guest.

This is Stanley.

He is our, seven month old, Labrador retriever.

He is currently in training to be a service dog that we're going to donate, to a veteran or first responder.

Well, I when I was doing my research, it was amazing.

I did not realize the cost, not only just monetary, but just the time to train the dogs.

So before we get to that, though, please tell us a little bit about yourself and why this became such a burning passion for you.

Absolutely.

so I wanted to start working dogs for warriors for a couple of reasons.

one of which was, kind of in honor of my grandfather.

he's a marine Corps veteran.

during that Vietnam era.

And when he got back, like, he suffered through PTSD, nightmares, like the whole array of things from, that, a lot of veterans from that time period kind of suffered through, you know, then getting older.

I had friends who went to the military, and their experiences were very similar to that of my grandfathers and the the answer to it all was medication.

You know, I would see them like.

Here's this type of pill.

If that doesn't work, take this.

You know, it just it just doesn't work.

You know, so the more research that went into service dogs, you know, it became very beneficial that guys were able to actually come down off of their medications because of these dogs, you know?

So we definitely wanted to do something that that was that we're able to give back, you know, because there's so many, so many companies out there that charge for service dogs.

And we wanted to make sure that we were set up in a way that we can donate these at zero cost to our veterans and first responders.

And I mean, because of the expense of them as well.

How did you start finding partnerships or people within the community to help you fulfill your mission?

Because now you're doing it.

You want to do it free of charge, whereas companies charge thousands upon thousands of dollars to do it.

Yeah.

So working dogs for Warriors is a little different than other organizations out there.

We're a mental health organization that also trains dogs, you know?

So we do a lot in our community to really showcase the other organizations out there that are doing good as well.

You know, the boots on the ground organizations that are actually changing lives in our community, you know, so we host numerous events throughout the year.

We're able to bring people together and kind of share our mission as well as others or a nonprofit organization.

So we generate donations that way.

We have classes.

We have public classes that actually help fund our nonprofit.

So we do public dog training, public doggie daycare, boarding and all that stuff to be able to help fund these dogs.

You know, just last year we brought in 12 veterans.

This year we brought in six in the first part of the year, about two months ago, another six.

And I'm planning on by the end of the year to bring in another 6 to 12 veterans.

So yeah, it's definitely like our the number of applications over the last 12 months have tripled than what we have normally received.

You know, so I'm definitely trying to do a do a push.

So where we could be able to provide dogs and training services for as many veterans and first responders as we can.

And so the community really taking it and taking advantage, but help me help you with your your services that you offer the daycare, the the training.

It's they're they're doing more than just training their dogs or putting their dog in a daycare.

They are actually paying it forward by making sure that our military and first responders are taken care of by being given a service dog.

Absolutely.

Our trainers included myself.

We are all volunteers for the organization, you know, so everything that goes into the organization goes right back into helping provide these dogs from purchasing the dogs, the leashes, the collars, the food, you know, vet vet bills.

Unfortunately, our vet bills were pretty high this past year, you know, but we're able to try to ease that that stress for them of getting a dog, you know, by providing as much as we can for them.

Well, in my other question, I was thinking too, is so how did you.

Because Stanley's a baby.

How did you find Stanley?

Stanley was actually donated to us.

So Stanley and his brother Cooper, were both donated to us when they were about 8 to 12 weeks old.

Cooper.

Actually his job.

Even how young he is, he works with the San Bernardino County Fire Department as a care team dog.

So that was a program that we started this past year.

We were able to donate five dogs to the county of San Bernardino to be with their firefighters, to be able to provide care team support services to their own firefighters.

So think about that, how important that is to, firefighters that are on the front lines, because now we don't have fire season here.

It's just 12 months a year.

Absolutely.

You know, so these dogs, like even Cooper being so young, same age.

Stanley, you know, he's already been out to these, camping fires where they go out and they're there for days on end.

You know, they don't get to go home.

You know, they're they're actually putting their lives on risk to be able to help put these fires out, to save the homes, to save these communities.

So, Cooper is able to go out there and just provide that that this stressor, you know, that that time to take their mind off, you know, take their turnout gears off and just hang out with a dog, you know, be able to talk, be able to express how they're actually feeling with, with their their day job.

You mentioned that, a lot of times just having a service dog will help, person in the military or first responder to a point where they don't need medication to cope.

I mean, that's a really big deal.

So to a point, do you find that a lot of big health organizations want to be part of this as well?

Because this is like a holistic way to care, to help our veterans and first responders to move on.

And I didn't mention that in the teaser, but first responders have PTSD.

I mean, I can imagine either front lines on the fire zones like that.

Absolutely.

So one of the other founders of this organization is my wife.

she is she is a 911 dispatcher, you know, so she hears those calls.

You know, she she gets the worst of the worst when, you know, whenever that that emergency happens, you know, that they're the first phone call, you know?

So in the beginning, when we first had started having more and more dogs, she, she would actually take a couple to work.

You know, we were able to contact the chief.

She was totally fine with it, you know, allowing her to take a dog with her on a shift and you just see the the energy in the room completely change.

You know, the second that dog walks in, there was one of one time where one of her coworkers received a pretty bad call, you know, and no one really knew it because, you know, moving on to the next, next call, next, next call, you know, but she had one of our dogs with us who actually is now with the county, County fire care team dog.

Oh, yes.

You know, but he on his own, got up from our puppy raiser, walked over to the other side and like sit, sat down and started licking her and she started bawling in tears.

You know, because he picked it up, he was able to be in there and know something was wrong.

And he walked over there and, was able to kind of just help her.

You hear how much our furry friends, their intuition is off the charts.

I mean, they know when we need them.

Oh, absolutely.

And so when we come back, we going to move, I guess we're going to move this table and we're going to watch what you do at Stanley.

I'll try not to be a distraction, since it seems like Stanley likes me, but I would love for you to just show us what you're doing, because our community needs to know the difference you're making.

So can you hold on a second?

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

We'll be right back.

Come back to hear how working dogs for warriors honors those who have dedicated their lives to serving our community and country.

Welcome to America's test kitchen.

At home, at home, at home.

At home.

At home.

This year we're bringing it all back home to the with great new recipes.

It's cheese time.

I hated tuna fish when I was a kid.

Ingredients and gear.

Here's money in your eye and your favorite test cook.

Today I want to talk about my.

Tank cooking in their own kitchens.

America's Test Kitchen at.

Home is really good.

When I was in foster care, I never knew when I would have to move, so I always had my suitcase ready to go.

Then one day I was adopted.

My new parents opened their hearts and home to me.

My parents cooked my favorite breakfast for me every morning.

My parents took me and trips.

I never thought I was going through.

They gave me a home and an even better reason to use that suitcase.

My parents aren't perfect, but they're perfect for me.

I was a hero, you know?

Says says a lot of people.

I was a hero in the military.

Being a combat medic.

But when I came back, I didn't feel like such a hero.

The real pain of dealing with PTSD, isn't visible.

Our military heroes and first responders are often suffering in silence and painful isolation.

There's a reason why every single 911 dispatcher has a mute switch, and I can recall certain calls where I have to hit it because I'm crying too.

I'm trying to and I know we have to go home.

And how do.

You be a wife after hearing what you just heard?

Working dogs for warriors is helping erase the agony of PTSD.

There's tons of research out there now that show that animals have tremendously lower the amount of medications that individuals are having to take due to PTSD.

So that's something what we really wanted to focus on.

Founders Michael and Daisy Welsh train and donate service dogs for veterans and first responders.

He's very protective of me.

he knows when I'm having my anxieties.

When I have that, he's always there for me and he knows how to snap me out of it.

And that's why he's also my savior.

This is Sly.

He's a two and a half year old boxer.

We've been here at Working Dogs for Warriors for about two years now.

He helps me by assisting me and keeping out of my depression.

Getting stuck on the couch, getting stuck in the home keeps me from doing bad things to myself.

My reasoning for starting working dogs for wars was, twofold.

my grandfather was a marine.

he suffered some severe PTSD, night terrors and kind of the whole array of things.

Unfortunately, at that time, the VA's answer to a lot of that was just, medication.

Instead of medicine.

Working dogs for warriors is transforming and healing broken lives.

A couple weeks into our program, seeing the dogs just fly through it and seeing the smile on that veteran's face.

It's so rewarding, you know, like that.

That makes everything worth it right there.

It just changed me.

I mean, he saved my life.

I contemplated suicide multiple times.

Just having my dog.

It gives me an extra purpose.

It gives me an extra purpose.

It's been the blessing for me ever since she's become a service dog.

It's kept me, calmer, quieter.

I'm not as angry.

I don't have such a fast trigger anymore.

So the dog has really taught me how to kind of calm down and stay relaxed and focused.

Working dogs for warriors is more than service dog training.

We have multiple avenues to promote that wellness within a warrior.

When a warrior is a veteran or a first responder and their families that come with them.

People are able to come out and just speak to like minded individuals.

People have gone through the same stuff that they have and just know that they're not alone.

Fundraising and generous donations cover the cost of training and support.

So we're able to donate our time to to train as many dogs as we can.

Last year, we brought in 15 dogs.

This year, we're bringing in an additional 12 to 16 dogs in the next two weeks.

Michael and Daisy's lifelong mission is to heal and care for our heroes.

We just want to show you that we appreciate you, and we're here to love you.

We're here to care for your wellness.

Everything about you.

We want to show you we appreciate it.

They are certainly my heroes.

And I guarantee you, all of our veterans and first responders will say the same thing.

They helped save my life.

Help save my marriage.

I would say that Mike and Daisy are definitely heroes to the veteran first responder community.

Yes, I think Mike and Daisy are real heroes.

They saved my life.

So to be a hero, you got to save lives and you got to do good things for others.

I consider them real heroes for what they do for us.

They don't have to do this.

They don't have to put in the time, the effort or the energy that they do put in or the dedication.

you can see it in your eyes when you talk to them.

They're dedicated.

They're focused.

They want to do this.

The best of them.

Brings out the best in us.

I do not consider my husband and I a real hero.

I consider those people that help real heroes.

And the reason I don't consider us real heroes is because I know what some of our veterans and first responders have been out there to go do.

I would not consider myself a hero.

each and every veteran and first responded to walks through through these doors as a hero.

Welcome back, Mike and Stanley.

They're back with us from Working Dogs for Warriors.

Thank you so much, Mike, for doing this and bringing Stanley.

Remember Stanley a puppy?

Okay, so bringing Stanley here, but we talked about that training and I know you've been working with Stanley and Stanley has a brother Cooper.

So how do we first start training when we get get your get the puppies into it.

So it really starts with a lot of just socialization, training, getting him used to these types of environments, you know, taking them out to a local mall, shopping centers, schools, play with kids.

You know, we really want them to get exposed to all of that stuff.

So when they're older, you know, they're nice, well-rounded dogs.

Okay.

You know, so one of the things that we kind of start with, Stanley, say hi, come on, go say hi.

You know, is teaching him, like, a greeting.

You know, we don't want them to go on their own to go want to jump in, play with, play with people or jump on people?

Good boy.

You know, so we want to teach him that release command basically, which is him going saying hi.

Yes.

You know, so that that helps tremendously down the line.

We wow wow.

And when you when you start giving Stanley commands, you progress based on how they get the command first or correct.

Yeah.

So a lot of it like the basic stuff sit down stay.

You know, like that's the real basic foundational things.

You know, we want to teach this to make sure he's going to stay here.

Like how he was laying just right next to us.

Yeah.

For the majority of interview until he wanted to go.

Yeah.

You little flirt.

Yes.

You know, so we want to teach the dogs.

So especially with honestly this position right here is one of the other tasks that we train the dog.

Just six, you know, so that they're watching their handlers back, you know, so in case their handler goes to an ATM machine, a counter at a store or whatever the case is, a lot of times with, with people with PTSD, you know, they have the hyper vigilance, you know, they're always looking over their back or they're always trying to they're always just checking, you know.

Yeah.

Well having that dog do that for them, you know, sit there.

Even though this dog is the most loving dog in the world, he's not going to bite a fly, you know, but having that sense of protection, that sense of of normalcy right there, you know, or it gives him that sense of normalcy, you know, being able to have that dog rely on their dog, you know.

Well, and then my other question to because with each dog you get, there are different triggers for PTSD.

So absolutely.

How do you train the dogs for those triggers.

So a lot of it actually goes down to like scent work, you know, so the dogs are actually pick up a certain scent that the body releases when their stresses are high.

Like I mentioned earlier with my watch.

Right?

Yes.

It hasn't gone off yet, but like the the they'll pick up before my watch picks up that my heart rate's getting too high, you know.

So we're able to tell we're able to train the dog to pick up that scent.

You know.

So as I'm checking okay.

My my heart rate's high I'm going to swap the mouth.

Collect that sample.

Now we can use that sample in a training, training exercise that teaches the dog.

Hey, every time he finds out, he's going to give some sort of alert, either it's putting his paw on my my leg or licking my face or whatever the case is.

You know, whatever we want to teach them to do to help bring down that heart rate.

Oh, that is so interesting.

And at some point when when Stanley is fully trained for the person that you've decided that Stanley will go with, how do you spend time with him, like one week, two weeks, a month?

Oh, you know, six months.

So our training program is very much different than others out there.

There's there's other programs where they'll come out two weeks.

Here's your dog.

Yes.

You know, our program actually, it starts at this step where we introduce the veteran as soon as we can.

So we get that person to participate in trainings for the following year and a half to two years.

You know, that's where the real healing takes place.

Yes.

You know, being able to teach their dog something, being able to teach the veteran on how to get your dog to say, you know, the very the simple things, the foundational things, what the dog already understands, you know, now we're able to get that veteran to do it on his own, you know, or we have a whole obstacle course set up, you know, so or so teaching the dog how to jump over a wall or jump over barrels or walk across a little, a silly.

No jumping, no family.

You know, or walking across a board that's six feet high.

You know, at first the dogs are scared.

The handlers are like, nervous.

You know what's going on.

But after a couple trainings with it, you know, seeing the, the the look on the veteran's face or the first responders face, the handlers face when their dog is able to get over something like that.

It's just it's rewarding in itself, you know?

So that's where the real healing takes place.

That's why our program is different than so many others out there, because we really want to focus on that handler dog team bond.

So this this training is starts from the very beginning.

And then you're there to assist throughout their entire relationship.

Correct?

Yep.

I love this.

And my other question would be to because we we talked about military.

and then you brought up first responders as well.

Yes.

I've been seeing lately that they've even brought, service dogs in on college campuses too, as well.

And so how do you how do the kids respond when you're bringing in your dog in?

Oh, they love it.

Yeah, they absolutely love it.

You know, like, first couple of times when we go there, you know, it always kind of joke around with the kids and stuff.

Yes, of.

Course.

Like they always think, oh, it's a police dog, you know?

So you get those students, you know, but then we bring in a puppy like Stanley and everyone's like, oh my goodness, you know, the most, you know, star football player who's all tough over here is now rolling on the floor with a dog.

You know, it's the most adorable thing, you know.

And it just helps with, with their learning.

It helps just ease their stress, you know, because also a lot of what we do is to combat that suicide.

You know, when it comes down to it, that's what we're our main focus is, is to combat suicide, whether it's in children or whether it's in veterans and first responders.

You know, so our programs that we're able to take these dogs through schools, you know, we get teachers and counselors telling us, like, the kids are looking forward to you coming.

You know, the kids are purposely making sure that they're there that day because they want to see the dogs.

So attendance is up.

Oh, absolutely.

Ten to absolutely.

Well, and that's important too because I mean, we've had several guests talk about the impact of the social emotional, reaction of students now that been through the pandemic.

And it seems like this is so important right now.

Absolutely.

We actually had a reading program and a program prior to the pandemic where we would take our dogs, and it's a it's for one, it's a great experience to see these veterans with their giant dogs and they're having kids read to them.

You know, that's in itself.

Yes.

Yes.

Tremendous.

You know, but now turning into a full program where we're helping these individuals with just that de-stressing, you know, those grounding techniques with these dogs, you know, it just it it's just so rewarding on the other end, just to kind of see where it's all leading to.

So before we close, I want you to show some of this silly how this is how you take it happening.

Absolutely.

Show some things that Stanley can do.

And, so our audience can see and I'll step a little bit behind.

And I hope he'll do it.

That's.

I know.

Stanley.

Follow.

Come on, come on, let's go.

Come here.

Go, boy.

Let's go.

Huskies!

Here.

Oh, look, Stanley, since a boy follow.

Since follow.

Yay!

Oh!

Good boy.

So Stanley is definitely.

Care to the, care team?

Family is a ladies man.

Let me tell you.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

So how can we help you?

We we need to help you.

Go to our website.

It's working dogs for warriors.com.

or come out to our community events.

You know, help share a post.

It really comes down to that community engagement.

You know, we're just trying to to build awareness of our programs, build awareness of everything that we do in our community, not only dog training, you know, but our mental health programs, our fellowship groups, our pantry programs.

You know, there's so much that working Dogs for War is offers, and it's just it'll take two hours to talk about everything.

I know, I know.

Well, Mike, thank you so much for what you're doing, not only just with our military, our first responders, but what you're doing with our children, too, because they really need something like this right now.

So thank you for that.

Thank you.

Make sure our audience can reach out to you and your lovely wife, too, for everything that you do together as a couple.

So I look forward to seeing you to do great things.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And, Stanley, you just relax.

Well, close it out.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Just relax.

Stanley, we're.

You're good.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angelo Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

However, Stanley's mind, you cannot have him.

Good night and stay well.

Hi, I'm Angela Williamson, host of Everybody with Angela Williamson.

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