If you asked K9s For Warriors who saved their rescue dog, Bob, they’d tell you Will Garbe rescued him.
But if you asked Will, he’d say it was the other way around.
“He’s definitely my best friend.”
K9s’ service dogs save more than one life, as the dogs are rescued from shelters then paired with struggling veterans.
Bob, Will’s 2-year-old golden retriever, was rescued from the 2023 Canadian wildfires, then trained for to become a service animal by K9s For Warriors.
In 2022, Veterans Affairs data found that an average of 17 veterans committed suicide a day in the U.S.
It’s a crisis Will is all too familiar with after serving 26 years in the U.S. Navy.
“There were days I would sit in the closet and put a hoodie on and put glasses on and just sit there. Going to the store, Going to the supermarket. I’d go into anything like that and I really felt anxious. I was always looking behind my back,” Will said.
“I retired in April of 2022 and came back here. To be honest, this civilian world was extremely different. Difficult. Like I was back in another country.”
It’s why Bob, Will’s service dog, has been crucial to his mental health.
“If Bob can sense when I’m getting a little anxious, when I’m getting a little hyper, if I’m getting a little bit worked up, Bob can sense that. What he’ll do is look at me, he’ll sit on my lap, he’ll come to me and kind of make me focus on him. And really what I’ll do is I’ll just take a few deep breaths and love on my dog.
Bob also has a story of his own.
He was named after a Thousand Oaks man who passed away. In his memory, his family donated $30,000 to K9s for Bob’s training.
“This past Veteran’s Day, I was able to go there and speak to those people and really thank the people that donated their time and money so that I could have this amazing, amazing gift. It really helped them to know that their father’s legacy name lives on with Bob,” Will said.
K9s For Warriors pairs an average of 16 veterans a month with their service dogs, at no cost to the veterans.
News Channel 3 speaks with Will on how this program changed his life, and how K9s for Warriors pairs trained shelter dogs with struggling veterans.
If you’d like to learn more or support K9s for Warriors, visit: https://k9sforwarriors.org/#
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
