SOT presents check to Patriot Paws.
Dianne Edmondson
The Support Our Troops meeting went to the dogs in May. Well, actually just the one dog, but Tommy was a great treat for the members to meet.
Tommy, a two-year-old black lab, accompanied Jill Tate and Nancy Davison from the Patriot Paws organization, to the May meeting where they demonstrated the various commands that these service dogs are taught and the practical uses for each of them. For instance, the dogs are trained to put a dropped object into the outstretched hand of the trainer or veteran upon hearing the “uh oh!” phrase, which really helps a veteran who can’t bend over to pick up keys, mail or even a credit card. And the “push” command tells the service dog to push the handicapped button to open doors, shut drawers, etc. Its opposite command “pull” will tell a dog, for instance, to pull open a drawer, or to take a basket of laundry to the washing machine using an attached loop of rope.
Patriot Paws, which is one of the veteran support organizations with which SOT partners, provides about 25 dogs a year at no charge to the veterans. Each dog requires about two years of training at a cost of about $30,000 per dog, and SOT was proud to present a $5000 check to the grateful ladies from Patriot Paws. This is just one of the meaningful ways that SOT funds are spent to assist our military troops.
Support Our Troops does just that, support military personnel who have relatives or close friends here in Robson Ranch in various ways, including partnering with other non-profit organizations such as Patriot Paws. To hear more about the way that you can help support these military personnel, please join us at one of our meetings, which are held in the Lone Star Room at the clubhouse at 1:00 p.m. on the second Monday of the month.