James McHenry Chapter, NSDAR, in the San Antonio area recently met at Paws for Purple Hearts, the first organization of its kind to offer Canine Assisted Warrior Therapy. Paws for Purple Hearts produces some of the highest quality assistance dogs and programs where the warriors themselves actively train service dogs for their injured comrades. Chapter members were delighted to meet two of the Golden Retrievers in training at the facility and learned about the mission of the facility.
The center provides therapy with service dogs in training to Warrior patients of the South Texas Veterans Health Center. Through Canine-Assisted Warrior Therapy, the Warriors dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury find an avenue to improve their lives while training one of the service dogs. Once trained, the dogs are placed with a wounded Warrior.
Paws for Purple Hearts is a non-profit organization that began as a research program in 2006 and soon became a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. The training center, located near IH-10 and 1604, serves the South-Central Region, including, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri.
The ladies played and interacted with the puppies, took a tour of the facility and made “snuffle mats” for the puppies. Puppies in training are given basic skills, socialization, and learning new routines in foster homes.
The James McHenry Chapter, NSDAR, meets on the second Saturday of most months. Interested visitors are welcome to attend. Please visit our website at https://www.texasdar.org/chapters/JamesMcHenry to find out more.