Christ Yoder
Related Articles
Retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Bob Jones said he was on the road to suicide.
Then he found Grace.
The service dog “gave me hope, a sense of dignity and (a feeling) that I was reintegrating into society again,” said Jones, 54.
“I feel awake again.”
Jones, another veteran, and their service dogs visited a Petco Love K9 center on Tuesday in an opening ceremony that drew a crowd of more than 100. The center will train service dogs to support warriors with invisible wounds.
In attendance were figures such as State Senator José Menéndez, D-San Antonio; Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush; District 6 Councilor Melissa Cabello-Havrda and District 8 Councilor Manny Pelaez.
Pelaez noted “a direct relationship between the mental health of veterans and opioid victims, (homelessness) and poverty”.
“You are helping to solve this problem in a new way that we have never seen in San Antonio,†he said.
Jamie Leon sits with his son, Joshua, and his service dog, Shadow. Leon, who served as an army medic for 15 years, received Shadow to help him with his PTSD.
Jessica Phelps / San Antonio Express-NewsThe gray-paneled, white-trimmed center, with 26 employees and 30 kennels, will provide veterinary care and pre-training to rescued dogs from across Texas before sending them to a site in Florida to complete school, Rory said. Diamond, CEO of K9s for Warriors.
Jones and retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Jaime Leon thanked K9s for Warriors for providing company when needed. The association, founded in 2011, reports having rescued more than 1,300 dogs and paired up with nearly 700 veterans.
“When you save a dog, that dog turns around and saves the warrior,†Diamond said. “It is something beautiful that two souls take their first steps together.”
In 2019, city council approved an initial 10-year lease to build the animal care services facility on 3 acres of land. That same year, Petco awarded K9s for Warriors a $ 2 million grant to support the center.
Susanne Kogut, president of the nonprofit Petco Love, credited K9s for Warriors for helping veterans with military-related trauma “and for believing in a better life for them.”
At the end of the ceremony, Leon, the 44-year-old veteran who visited the center with Jones, sat in the shade of a tent with Joshua, his 13-year-old son, and Shadow, a German Shepherd from 10 years. -Rottweiler mix.
Leon said the biggest impact Shadow had on him was outside the house.
“She’s been successful where I can go out and not worry about anxiety or being in a crowd,†Leon said. “She helps me reassess myself.
