We get to see a lot of puppies here at Cumberland Valley Veterinary Clinic and Pet Resort. By far it’s one of the best things about being a veterinarian. The little guy you see in the picture above is special though. He is part of the America’s VetDogs program. America’s VetDogs Service dog programs were created to provide enhanced mobility and renewed independence to veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders with disabilities, allowing them to once again live with pride and self-reliance. America’s VetDogs specialize in placing highly-skilled service and guide dogs to individuals with physical injuries, PTSD, hearing and vision loss, and seizures.
What many don’t know is how these dogs get from being rambunctious, playful puppies to the steady service dogs you see assisting their designated person. Headquartered in New York, America’s VetDogs puppies are sent to various correctional centers throughout the country as part of a Prison Puppy Program. There they live the first 12-14 months of their life. Inmates raise and help train basic commands to these puppies before they graduate and return to New York. There they are classified as either a service or therapy dog, and assigned to a specific disabled person. Training then begins for that person’s specific needs.
Cumberland Valley Veterinary Clinic has been honored to donate the veterinary care for these puppies since the program’s inception at the Maryland Correctional Training Center. The little guy in the picture above is grown now.
Here he is as a teen-ager:
And finally, here’s his most famous picture as a service dog:
Sully, president George H.W. Bush’s service dog began his America’s VetDogs life in the Prison Puppy Program at MCTC here in Washington county, Maryland. He came to our clinic often for his puppy care. Sully is just the most famous of these special dogs. Here’s Pepi of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Agency who was also a frequent visitor to CVVC:
Inmates provide for the puppy’s weekday living and training. Volunteer homes are needed for weekends. The weekend goal is to expose the puppies to as many different stimuli that, for obvious reasons, cannot be provided by inmates during the week. Weekend families take them to restaurants, church, car rides, sporting events, anything that would expose the puppies to new stimuli and increase their socialization. Volunteers are always needed.
Here’s the latest batch of puppies in the MCTC Prison Puppy Program:
AND VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED! If you think you or you and your family would like to be part of this fantastic program, go to VetDogs.org and follow the links for weekend puppy raising.
Watching these dogs perform their duties for their assigned person is very special. Knowing that these dogs have shared love and enhanced the lives of the inmates who took care of them, the weekend homes that helped socialize them, the myriad of people who volunteered or worked to provide the finished service dogs, is also very special. We at Cumberland Valley have been blessed to be part these puppy’s lives. Seeing Sully on that big of a stage, being the service dog he was trained to be, was a reward we never imagined or expected by being part of this amazing program.