BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Bay Area woman has a special passion for serving veterans.
Jeanne White does that by connecting vets with service dogs, and then helping to train them both to work together.
On a recent morning at the K9 Partners for Patriots facility in Brooksville, White was instructing Wayne McCluskey and his service dog Luna.
“Very good Wayne. Walk your pace. Walk your pace,” she said to McCluskey.
One of White’s main jobs at the organization is to secure donated dogs for the vets, and she needs to make sure the dogs are suited for the needs of each particular vet. Some are rescue dogs, others are donated by people who want to help a veteran.
K9 Partners for Patriots founder Mary Peter was also training dogs and their owners on the same morning. The organization has a large building where about a dozen vets participate in the training at any one time.
“Go ahead and pet your dog and let them know they are doing a good job. Good boy,” Peter said while leading a training.
She said the training process lasts for several months.
“We train the veterans to train their dogs,” said White. “That’s the key. Because that is where the bond is built. A lot of associations will train the dog and give it to the veteran. But that dog has bonded with a trainer for a year. Then they are handing them over to the veteran.”
Later in the morning, K9 Partners for Patriots traveled with the vets and their service dogs at a nearby Kohl’s department store parking lot for some real-life training. Wayne McCluskey’s dog Luna needed to brush up her skills of lying on pavement.
“Most of the time she’s good. We don’t see this from Luna,” said White. “But she apparently doesn’t like sitting on this asphalt.”
White said she has a special passion for connecting vets with service dogs because her husband experience PTSD decades after serving in the Vietnam and his service dog was a life changer.
White said seeing a vet go through training with a service dog successfully brings her lots of joy.
“When you see them go through the entire program, you look at them and now see you have given them a second chance at life,” she said. “You have saved two lives. A rescue dog and a veteran. It means the world.”
For her dedication to serving veterans, Congressman Gus Bilirakis recently presented White with his Heroes Among Us award.
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