RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA)—According to the Department of Labor, five million veterans had a service-connected disability in August last year. This week, KOTA Cares is helping veterans and first responders in South Dakota get service dogs for those disabilities.
South Dakota Service Dogs started in 2021 to help provide service dogs for those in need in the Black Hills, but it’s not just for anyone.
South Dakota Service Dogs only provides pups for veterans and first responders.
“Veterans and first responders are a category that don’t really ask for a lot of help. They suffer from PTSD, anxiety, night terrors, all sorts of things due to combat and just working in the community. A dog gives them a purpose,” Holly Soper, South Dakota Service Dogs executive director explained.
Since their inception, South Dakota Service Dogs have helped nearly 100 service members to find the perfect service dog.
“Well, I’ll tell you something. If you want to see a group that has the best trainers, I think in South Dakota, this is it right here. This is a wonderful group. When I got him, he was a little wild because he hadn’t been going to training and the trainers knew exactly how to work with him,” said Bruce Bedard, a South Dakota Service Dog handler.
One handler who benefited from South Dakota Service Dogs described the organization in one word, invaluable.
“To have an organization like this that allows us to come in here and not only train our dogs, I mean the leadership of this organization is phenomenal. We can come in and be our true selves. If I’m having a bad day, it’s okay. They allow me that space to have a bad day. If I’m having a great day, you know, then it’s a great day,” said Robb Webb, another SDSD handler.
Webb added having an organization tailored to veterans and first responders gives them a purpose and place to go.
“We’ve all had similar experiences in our careers, so it’s a comradery-building thing too,” Webb explained.
Soper says she loves being a part of South Dakota Service Dogs and helping those who have helped us.
“It’s so rewarding just to be able to give someone a reason to wake up in the morning and a reason to live because we suffer with PTSD, all of us do, and that takes a lot of veterans and first responders away from us and their families. We’re not just healing the first responder and the veteran we are also helping the family. And there are just no words I can put on that, what it’s like to be a part of that, and the significance and the value,” Soper said.
SD Service Dogs runs off of donations of money, volunteers, and dogs themselves. To donate you can visit their website.
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