Freedom Dogs
FREEDOM DOGS
Board Member
Some of the work I am proudest of has nothing to do with real estate.
Freedom Dogs is a 501(c)(3) founded in 2006 that pairs specially trained service dogs with wounded service members recovering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other injuries that never show up on an X ray. The dogs are trained at a center in Oceanside, and the organization is embedded with the Wounded Warrior Battalion West at Camp Pendleton, where medical staff refer service members into the program directly. It is the only ongoing partnership of its kind in the country. Every program is provided free of charge to the men and women who use it.
After twenty years as a Marine Corps spouse and eleven moves, I have known a lot of families who came home carrying something they could not put into words. What this organization does is hand a Marine something steady to hold while the rest of the recovery catches up. A dog does not need the story explained. It shows up every morning and gives someone a reason to get out the door.
Each dog costs about $50,000 to train, and the program runs on donations. There are three ways in: give, volunteer, or raise a puppy for twelve to eighteen months and hand a wounded warrior their partner for life. Freedom Service DogsFreedom Dogs
If you are moving to North County on orders, you are moving into a community that takes care of its own. Freedom Dogs is one of the reasons I am glad to live and work here.