Shelter to Soldier gives new purpose to shelter dogs and hope to veterans

Every day, 17 U.S. veterans are lost to suicide, and the number is rising among active duty personnel as well. Indeed, the suicide rate among military members has increased to the point the figure has not only eclipsed the number of troops lost in battle this year, but is on pace to set an annual record for deaths by suicide since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan two decades ago. Meanwhile, more than one million shelter dogs are euthanized each year primarily for lack of space or behavior issues. And that is where Shelter to Soldier comes in. Founded in 2012, the nonprofit adopts dogs from local shelters and trains them to be psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, brain injuries, and other combat trauma, helping both service members and canines recover and move forward.

“Many great dogs get overlooked because of separation anxiety, unruliness, barking, or poor house training. We can train most any dog to the elite level of service work,” says organization president Graham Bloem, who founded the organization with his wife Kyrié, Shelter to Soldier’s vice president, and Krystyna Holc, its treasurer.

“My wife and I trained the first couple of dogs out of our home,” says Bloem, who is also Shelter to Soldier’s training director. “We then sublet property and were able to train four dogs at a time. After that, it was seven. Then ten. Then about a year and half ago, we got our own facility in Oceanside and can now work with more than 30 dogs at a time.”

Still, with all that growth, the waiting list for service animals is long. It takes on average 18 months to train each dog, which involves extensive obedience work, exposure to various environments and people, as well task training specific to a veteran’s needs. Some veterans also need mobility assistance, which can involve balance support, retrieval of objects, or a combination of both.

The training is not only time consuming, it is expensive. It costs between $18,000 and $22,000 per dog, and Shelter to Soldier, which operates entirely on private funding, is fortunate to have several long-term corporate partners including Cox Communications, Sycuan Casino Resort, and Unite, an international haircare company based in Carlsbad.

Another partner, SD Botox, not only sponsored Shelter to Soldier’s 13th annual Be the Light fundraising gala in August at L’Auberge Del Mar, it has pledged the money to train seven shelter dogs, including six by a single donor within the gala sponsorship club.

As Bloem says, “We are very lucky to be where we are. That’s the best way to put it.” But that being said, because of demand, Shelter to Soldier has already outgrown its Oceanside location and is preparing to launch a capital campaign to move to an even larger facility in the next three to five years.

Currently, the organization is on track to place 18 dogs this year. “That’s what we’re able to do at this point, and we operate with the idea that every individual we help matters. But the numbers are still small,” says Bloem. “We know we aren’t able to serve everyone who could benefit from the program.”

Once a veteran is placed on the list for a dog, they begin an education program to learn about dog care, including nutrition and veterinary needs. But most important, they get to interact regularly with Shelter to Soldier’s Canine Ambassadors.

Service dogs cannot be touched or pet by anyone other than their handler. The Canine Ambassadors, on the other hand, are specifically trained to bring joy by providing love and affection to all they meet. “That’s their mission,” says Bloem. They can be found all over San Diego, from Sunday Padres home games, as part of the Paw Squad, to the many U.S. Navy ships that are either homeported or travel through San Diego.

“We were going to the ships to provide stress relief,” says Bloem, “and I would find myself in conversations with the ship’s personnel: ‘We see you guys once a week or every other week. It’s so helpful. Couldn’t we make it full time?’”

So next year it will become full time, at least for one ship, the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, home to nearly to 3,000 sailors and marines. Raider, a one-year-old lab mix, is currently in training for his new position.

Bloem says there were a lot of logistics to work through, and even terminology. These would no longer be just morale dogs, but “four-legged crew members.” Shelter to Soldier is also in discussions about providing morale dogs to first responder groups, which also experience a high number of suicides. These include firehouses, which at one time were famous for their Dalmatian mascots. It seems those earlier firemen might have been onto something. sheltertosoldier.org