LABS FOR LIBERTY

Labs for Liberty trains Labrador Retrievers to be gifted as service dogs to war Veterans as a way to counter the staggering rate of Veteran suicides we deal with every day in the USA (22 Veterans commit suicide daily). We have chosen to specifically work with Labrador Retrievers that are calm, intelligent, patient, obedient, and devoted. The dogs are donated by breeders and are bred for their natural hunting ability. These service dogs’ primary focus must be their Veteran and the tasks they perform for that Veteran. They will also be capable of serving as a hunting companion to those Veterans who find healing through hunting and outdoor activities. Our pups are in the community being socialized from the time we receive them at 8-12 weeks old, to the time their Veteran receives them at approximately 12 months of age. We focus on putting the pup into environments similar to those in which their Veteran lives, in order to desensitize them to distractions and allow them to focus on their tasks and handler. We custom train each pup specifically for their Veteran’s needs, allowing us to get the pup and Veteran together sooner than traditional programs. With 22 Veteran suicides per day and an even larger number of Veterans who would benefit from a service dog, we believe custom training a dog that can also be an outdoors companion allows us to better serve our Veterans with a quicker turn-around time. At this time, we have gifted 140 service dogs to wounded Warriors in 32 states who suffer from mobility issues and PTSD.