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There's nothing like coming home after a long, hard day to a wagging tail, your best buddy greeting you with pure joy. An animal has the ability to heal emotional wounds. They help us find hope in times of sadness or despair and love and comfort when we feel alone. For these reasons and so many more, we are the proud founders of the Warrior Buddies Wounded Heroes Adoption Program. This program works with professional trainers to find and evaluate potential "Buddies" for the program and then subsidizes the adoption process by paying adoption and microchip costs, wellness check and vaccines, and spay/neuter fees. These dogs are then transferred to the trainer to complete the training program and ultimately awarded to a wounded hero to provide a positive impact on their life.
When asked why this program means so much to Lori Leary, President of the Prince William Humane Society, she stated: "Animals can do what drugs cannot by playing an active therapeutic role in a veterans' recovery, offering the sort of non-judgmental and unconditional love and support that these individuals need most." And according to Warrior Buddy Anthony P., "I'd rather have a dog than a drug any day!"
Our most recent Warrior Buddy, Gino, graduated October 30, 2020, and went home with Service member, Michael N. After receiving Gino at our Adopt Shop as a homeless, adoptable dog in January 2020, we quickly saw his potential to become part of this rewarding program and called Chris Baity, head trainer of Semper K9 Assistance Dogs to come to evaluate him. Chris liked what he saw and through our Warrior Buddies Program, we transferred Gino to Chris for their training program. We partnered with Semper K9 to ensure Gino received the proper training to become a Warrior Buddy for a deserving veteran and on Oct. 30th he did just that.
Semper K9 had this to say about Gino: "Semper K9 Assistance Dogs is proud to accept Gino into our Service Dogs for Veterans program. Gino is an 8-month old lab mix rescued from the Prince William Humane Society. Gino is named in honor of Lance Corporal Eugene “Gino” Clifton Mills, III, USMC."
Read more about Gino here.
Lance Corporal Eugene “Gino” Clifton Mills, III, USMC
“For those that knew him, he will always live on. We will tell stories about him, tell our family and friends about him, and pass the story of his life on to our children. He inspires us to be better men and Marines, and on that operation, to be the enemy’s worst fear.” –Sergeant
Michael and his new "Buddy" Gino will continue to be supported by P.W. Humane Society and Semper K9 should they need anything in the future.
Gino stares adoringly at his new dad.
This program is possible thanks to YOUR generous support. Help us continue to provide Warrior Buddies to our Nation's Heroes!
Click paws to donate!