BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC

Blue Star Service Dogs is a Michigan 501(c)(3) nonprofit that rescues and trains shelter dogs to be service dogs for military veterans living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or Traumatic Brain Injury. Service dogs provide veterans living with these conditions comfort and daily living support in ways humans and other treatments cannot. The service dogs are trained to meet the individual needs of the veteran and dog/handler teams are offered lifetime support, all at no cost to the veteran.

Based in Livingston County, Blue Star Service Dogs first rescues dogs from area shelters or animal control agencies. Dogs are place in initial basic training through the training programs that uses Blue Star trained inmate dog handlers at Thumb Correctional Facility or incarcerated veteran dog handlers at Saginaw Correctional Facility to prepare the dogs to pass the Canine Good Citizen ® evaluation. The dogs are then matched with a selected veteran participant and the team engages in further task and community access training together. Since each veteran has unique qualities and goals, each team is trained to meet that veteran’s individual needs. Blue Star Service Dogs offers the veteran and dog pairing a lifetime of support after training, including annual re-evaluation, additional tasks training, and training events.

In this way, we are Rescuing One to Heal Another.