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Founder | Clarissa Black |
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Type | 501(c)(3) |
27-1250302 | |
Purpose | To help heal the emotional wounds of military Veterans by using the power of the human-animal bond to provide a second chance for shelter animals by rescuing, training and pairing them with America's servicemen and women who could benefit from having a companion animal. [1] |
Revenue | $1,284,387 [2] |
Expenses (2015) | $426,401 |
Website | www |
Pets for Vets is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to providing a second chance to shelter dogs by rescuing, training, and matching them with American veterans who need a companion pet. [3] It was founded in 2009 to help veterans who were suffering from combat stress and other emotional issues. Each companion dog is rescued in connection with local animal rescue groups.
Pets for Vets was founded on October 21, 2009, by animal behaviorist and trainer Clarissa Black, who was looking for a way to help American veterans who had combat stress and other emotional issues related to their service. [4] Many Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans experience physical and emotional injuries making it difficult to transition back to civilian life. [5] [6] [7] Pets for Vets helps military veterans reclaim normalcy in their lives through companion dogs.
Each companion dog is rescued in connection with local animal rescue groups. They are then given basic obedience training and any additional training that will help them assimilate into their new lives and then finally placed in their "forever" home.
Estimates that anywhere from one in eight [8] to one in five of all Iraq war veterans have some degree of PTSD and two-thirds of those who screened positive for PTSD are not receiving treatment. [9] People who have PTSD experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, flashbacks, and extreme wariness. It may manifest right away or show up months or even years later. Some of those who have PTSD commit suicide. [10] [11] [12]
According to the ASPCA, every year between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats are abandoned at shelters in the United States. Nationally five out of ten shelter dogs and seven out of ten shelter cats are euthanized because there is no one to adopt them from the shelter. [13] These dogs and cats can make excellent companion animals but never have that chance.
Animal-assisted therapy has typically been used to treat physical disabilities; it is becoming increasingly useful in treating patients with psychological complications including PTSD and combat stress and even reducing symptoms of PTSD in as many as 82% of patients studied. [14]
More and more veterans are being written prescriptions for companion animals to help combat PTSD. Pets can help alleviate stress, loneliness and anxiety. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says pets can decrease a person's blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels and feelings of loneliness. Pets can increase opportunities for exercise and outdoor activities and opportunities for socialization. Caring for a pet encourages responsibility and adherence to a daily schedule.
Pets for Vets developed a program focusing on addressing these issues by bringing together animals needing to be rescued and veterans needing a companion for a better quality of life. Not every veteran qualifies for a psychiatric service dog; however, everyone who wants one can benefit from a companion or pet animal.
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/cute appearances, intelligence, and relatable personalities, but some pets may be taken in on an altruistic basis and accepted by the owner regardless of these characteristics.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event and can include triggers such as misophonia. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."
Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.
A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the mill’s dogs is disregarded to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". They are cited as being a result of increased demand for household pets, especially after World War II. The Veterinary Medical Association of the Humane Society of the United States defines the main characteristics of a puppy mill as "emphasis on quantity over quality, indiscriminate breeding, continuous confinement, lack of human contact and environmental enrichment, poor husbandry, and minimal to no veterinary care."
A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people, often in settings such as hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries, hospices, or disaster areas. In contrast to assistance dogs, which are trained to assist specific patients with their day-to-day physical needs, therapy dogs are trained to interact with all kinds of people, not just their handlers.
In some countries there is an overpopulation of pets such as cats, dogs, and exotic animals. In the United States, six to eight million animals are brought to shelters each year, of which an estimated three to four million are subsequently euthanized, including 2.7 million considered healthy and adoptable. Euthanasia numbers have declined since the 1970s, when U.S. shelters euthanized an estimated 12 to 20 million animals. Most humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups urge animal caregivers to have their animals spayed or neutered to prevent the births of unwanted and accidental litters that could contribute to this dynamic.
The health of dogs is a well studied area in veterinary medicine.
The dog is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was domesticated from an extinct population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene, over 14,000 years ago by hunter-gatherers, prior to the development of agriculture. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Experts estimate that due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.
Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is an alternative or complementary type of therapy that includes the use of animals in a treatment. The goal of this animal-assisted intervention is to improve a patient's social, emotional, or cognitive functioning. Studies have documented some positive effects of the therapy on subjective self-rating scales and on objective physiological measures such as blood pressure and hormone levels.
A psychiatric assistance dog or psychiatric service dog is a sub-category of assistance dog trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability or a mental disability, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides support to individuals with a mental health or psychiatric disability. Emotional support animals are not required to be trained. Any animal that provides support, comfort, or aid, to an individual through companionship, unconditional positive regard, and affection may be regarded as an emotional support animal.
Abandoned pets are companion animals that are either inadvertently or deliberately abandoned by their owners, by either dumping the animals on the streets, leaving them alone in a vacant property, or relinquishing them at an animal shelter.
Separation anxiety in dogs describes a condition in which a dog exhibits distress and behavior problems when separated from its handler. Separation anxiety typically manifests within minutes of departure of the handler. It is not fully understood why some dogs suffer from separation anxiety and others do not. The diagnosis process often leads to a misdiagnosis as it is difficult to differentiate from other medical and behavioral problems. The behavior may be secondary to an underlying medical condition. With chronic stress, impairments to physiological health can manifest. Increased stress in the dog alters hormone levels, thus decreasing natural immunity to various health problems. Separation anxiety can be treated with systematic desensitization and, if necessary, medication. Ignoring or punishing the dog, leaving them to "cry it out" does not solve separation anxiety and can damage the mental health of dogs.
The human–canine bond is rooted in the domestication of the dog, which began occurring through their long-term association with hunter-gatherers more than 30,000–40,000 years ago. The earliest known relationship between dogs and humans is attested by the 1914 discovery of the Bonn–Oberkassel dog, who was buried alongside two humans in modern-day Oberkassel, Germany, approximately 15,000 years ago. For centuries, the phrase "man's best friend" has commonly been used to refer to dogs, as they were the first species and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated. This companionship is most evident in Western countries, such as the United States, where 44% of households were found to be keeping at least one dog as a pet.
Freedom Service Dogs is a Denver, Colorado–based charitable organization devoted to training dogs as service dogs for people with disabilities that include multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injury, PTSD, and more. The organization began a small-scale breeding program in 2019 to increase the number of people it could help.
PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories, dreams or flashbacks of the event; avoidance of people, places and activities that remind the individual of the event; ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world, mood changes and persistent feelings of anger, guilt or fear; alterations in arousal such as increased irritability, angry outbursts, being hypervigilant, or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.
K9s For Warriors is an American charity and veterans service organization that provides service dogs to veterans. The organization trains rescue dogs to help veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, post-9/11 issues and other psychological challenges associated with military service.
Between 5% and 10% of homeless peoplein the United States own pets. Studies of homeless pet owners in urban settings show a sense of identity and community connection between pets and their owners. This topic is part of the Animals and Society branch of study in the field of Sociology, and is also an issue with the values and responsibility of pet ownership.
Bravehound is a Scottish charity that supports former servicemen, women and their families. They provide training and dogs to support veterans, some of whom have post-traumatic stress, other mental health issues as well as physical injury. Weekly individual and group training sessions are provided free of charge. Bravehound is funded by the Chancellor using Libor funds, The Covenant Trust Fund and public fundraising initiatives.