Petland Franchisees Donate Pup To K9s For Warriors
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Petland Franchisees Donate Pup To K9s For Warriors

Jacksonville Petland Owners To Provide Veteran With Service Dog

May 01, 2017 // Franchising.com // Chillicothe, OH - Petland Jacksonville’s Geoff and Kelli Daniels started working with K9s For Warriors last year and this year they increased their support and commitment to the organization by donating a German Shepherd puppy to be trained as a service dog for a military veteran.

“We became a supporter of K9s For Warriors in 2016 and are in awe of the incredible work they do to help support military veterans,” said Geoff Daniels. “We decided we wanted to do more. Dalilah is a beautiful, smart puppy that will be a wonderful friend.”

The Jacksonville franchisees delivered Dalilah to K9s For Warriors on Tuesday.

The Daniels joined Operation K9 Care, a nationwide program created by Bayer and K9s for Warriors in 2016 to support the lifelong bond formed between veterans and their service dogs. They met their warrior, Bryan Foltz, and his K9 Dell at the Global Pet Expo in March of 2016.

K9s For Warriors is the only service dog organization for post-9/11 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI) that requires them to live and train on site with their service dog before going home. K9s For Warriors’ unique program offers 120 hours of hands-on training with certified dog trainers, housing, meals, veterinary care, training equipment, and peer-to-peer support at no cost to the veteran. The program reports a highly successful suicide prevention rate in its graduates. What’s more, 80 percent of warrior graduates report a reduction in medication use after receiving their service dogs.

“We sincerely appreciate the donation of Dalilah from Petland and its support of our program,” said Rory Diamond, CEO. “We immediately noticed how alert she was, and look forward to seeing her develop into a service dog, ready to meet the needs of her warrior,” added Kathy Tracy, Lead Puppy Advisor.

“This experience has been so emotional and heartwarming and we are anxious to see Dalilah again when she is fully trained and matched with a veteran,” said Kelli. “We will not know until she graduates where she will be placed but we have been invited to that ceremony which typically happens around one year of age and will do whatever we can to be there.”

About Petland, Inc.

Petland, Inc. is a franchise operation with quality, full service retail pet centers across the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and El Salvador. For more than 47 years, Petland Pet Counselors have been dedicated to matching the right pet with the right person and meeting the needs of both. To its customers who already have pets, Petland is dedicated to enhancing their knowledge and enjoyment of the human-animal bond. Petland was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in south central Ohio. For more information on Petland, visit www.petland.com.

About K9s For Warriors

K9s For Warriors was founded in 2011 by Shari Duval. After her son, Brett, returned home as a contractor from Iraq with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Duval recognized the need to treat innovatively and effectively the devastating epidemic. What began as an idea developed into a passionate nonprofit organization committed to saving the lives of rescue dogs and military heroes alike. Since 9/11, there have been 130,000 veteran suicides (22 lives lost a day to PTSD). Through a three-week, live-in training program – at no cost to the veteran – K9s For Warriors graduates are able to return to civilian life with dignity and independence while reducing their risk for suicide. The mission of K9s For Warriors is to stop these 22 daily suicides altogether. The organization has become the nation’s preeminent organization providing service dogs to post-9/11 veterans suffering from PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Military Sexual Trauma. To date, over 300 veterans have been matched to service dogs. www.k9sforwarriors.org

SOURCE Petland, Inc.

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