Twenty-two veterans take their own lives every single day. Behind each statistic is a veteran who felt alone, disconnected, and without hope. Our program addresses this crisis directly by providing specially trained service dogs to veterans at risk, creating the connection, purpose, and round-the-clock support that can mean the difference between life and death.
Why Service Dogs Prevent Suicide
Service dogs are a proven suicide prevention intervention. They work because they address the key risk factors that lead veterans to crisis:
Isolation: Veterans with PTSD often withdraw from family, friends, and community. A service dog provides constant, nonjudgmental companionship and gives veterans a reason to leave the house, reducing the dangerous isolation that increases suicide risk.
Loss of Purpose: After leaving military service, many veterans struggle to find meaning. Caring for a service dog creates daily purpose, responsibility, and routine: protective factors against suicidal thoughts.
Crisis Interruption: Service dogs are trained to detect changes in their handler’s emotional state and intervene during anxiety attacks, flashbacks, and emotional distress. When a veteran is spiraling toward crisis, their dog provides immediate grounding and disruption of harmful thought patterns.
24/7 Support: Suicidal thoughts don’t wait for business hours. Veterans tell us their darkest moments come at 3am when they’re alone with their thoughts. A service dog is there in those critical moments when no therapist, hotline, or medication can reach them.
Accountability: Veterans in our program consistently report that their dog kept them alive. “I couldn’t do that to my dog” is something we hear repeatedly. The bond and responsibility creates a powerful reason to stay.
Evidence-Based Results
Our program has undergone independent third-party impact evaluation, and the data is clear: veterans in our program show significant reductions in suicidal ideation, improved mental health outcomes, and sustained recovery over time. This isn’t guesswork. It’s a proven intervention backed by measured results.
Research on veterans with service dogs consistently shows decreased suicide risk, reduced PTSD symptom severity, lower depression scores, and improved overall functioning. When you support our program, you’re investing in an approach with documented effectiveness.
The Veterans We Serve
We prioritize veterans who are:
• Struggling with PTSD, depression, or anxiety
• Experiencing social isolation or withdrawal
• At elevated risk for suicide
• Facing barriers to traditional mental health care
• In need of continuous support that complements clinical treatment
Our program works alongside VA care and civilian mental health services. We’re not replacing therapy or medication; we’re providing the 24/7 support that fills the gaps those services can’t reach.
Our Comprehensive Approach
Every veteran in our Suicide Prevention Program receives:
1. Carefully Matched Service Dog: We assess each veteran’s specific needs, mental health challenges, and living situation to pair them with a dog whose temperament and training match their requirements.
2. 18-24 Months of Specialized Training: Our dogs are trained specifically in psychiatric service work, including anxiety detection, nightmare interruption, crowd navigation, emotional grounding, and crisis response.
3. Intensive Handler Training: Veterans complete comprehensive training to build a deep working bond with their service dog and learn to recognize and respond to their dog’s alerts.
4. Ongoing Mental Health Support: We maintain regular contact with veterans in our program, connecting them with a community of fellow veteran handlers and providing continued guidance.
5. Lifetime Partnership Support: We provide ongoing training support, veterinary care coordination, and intervention if challenges arise, ensuring the veteran-dog partnership remains strong for years to come.
6. Zero Cost to Veterans: Every service dog is provided completely free. Veterans never pay a dollar for their service dog, training, or ongoing support.
Why This Matters Now
Veteran suicide rates have remained stubbornly high despite billions invested in VA mental health services. Traditional approaches aren’t enough. We need interventions that meet veterans where they are: in their homes, in the middle of the night, in their daily lives.
Many at-risk veterans won’t seek help due to stigma, mistrust of the system, or previous negative experiences with treatment. A service dog doesn’t carry that stigma. Veterans don’t have to admit they’re struggling or ask for help. The dog is simply there, providing support naturally and continuously.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified veteran isolation and mental health struggles. Aging Vietnam veterans are experiencing delayed-onset PTSD. Post-9/11 veterans face unprecedented rates of traumatic brain injury and PTSD. The need has never been greater.
What Your Donation Provides
Training a fully qualified psychiatric service dog costs approximately $25,000, covering puppy acquisition, intensive professional training, veterinary care, equipment, handler training, and lifetime support. Every donation moves an at-risk veteran closer to receiving their service dog:
• $50 provides a week of specialized training
• $250 covers veterinary care and health certifications
• $500 sponsors a veteran through handler training
• $1,000 provides a month of professional dog training
No contribution is too small. We’re able to save veteran lives because supporters like you come together to make these partnerships possible.
Real Impact, Real Lives Saved
Our veterans tell us their service dogs saved their lives. One veteran shared: “I had a plan. I had a date. But I couldn’t leave my dog. She needed me, and for the first time in years, I needed to stay.” Another told us: “My dog knew I was in crisis before I did. He wouldn’t leave my side, and that connection pulled me back from the edge.”
These aren’t isolated stories. They’re the documented impact of our program. Veterans with service dogs experience:
• Reduced suicidal thoughts and behaviors
• Decreased need for crisis mental health services
• Improved medication compliance and treatment engagement
• Restored family relationships and social connections
• Return to meaningful work and community participation
Transparency and Accountability
We take our suicide prevention mission seriously. That’s why we’ve invested in independent evaluation to measure our impact and ensure we’re delivering real results. When you donate to our program, you can trust that your money is creating measurable, life-saving outcomes.
We report on our results, track veteran outcomes over time, and continuously refine our approach based on what the evidence shows works best.
The Ripple Effect
When you prevent one veteran suicide, you’re saving more than one life. You’re sparing a spouse from unbearable loss. You’re keeping children from growing up without a parent. You’re preventing the trauma that ripples through extended family, fellow veterans, and entire communities. Research shows that each suicide directly affects 135 people.
Your donation doesn’t just help one veteran. It protects everyone who loves them.
Join Our Mission
Twenty-two veterans a day is unacceptable. Every single one of those lives matters. Every one of them served our country and deserves every resource available to heal from that service.
Service dogs are proven to work. Our program delivers measurable results. And your support makes it possible.
Together, we can reduce veteran suicide: one service dog, one veteran, one life at a time. No veteran should face their darkest moments alone. With your help, they won’t have to.
Your donation to our program is an investment in saving lives, and we have the evidence to prove it works.
