Help Wanted: Weekend Puppy Trainers For Veteran Service Dogs

Warning: risk of excessive cuteness.

Help wanted: Dog lovers looking for a chance to give back. Warning: could be the cutest part time job around.

America’s VetDogs—an organization that helps raise and match service dogs for veterans, first responders and active-duty service members with disabilities—is looking for part time puppy trainers to help socialize dogs.

There are urgent needs for weekend help in several eastern states including Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

Volunteers chosen for the program will be expected to welcome a dog in their home on the weekends. The commitment lasts between 12 to 16 months and trainers are expected to expose the dog to different sounds and smells by taking the puppy on car rides and to places like the mall, restaurants and sporting events.

During the week the puppies stay at correctional facilities where inmates train them as part of the Prison Puppy Program. Puppies enter the prison at around 8-10 weeks-of-age and are raised by a good standing inmate within the facility.

Since its start in 2003, America’s VetDogs has placed more than 1000 service dogs free of charge.

Andrew Sockett is a veteran who suffers from PTSD who has received one of those dogs.

He said his wife has been a vital part of his healing, but since she can’t be with him all the time, the dog he got from America’s VetDogs—Hercules—has become a constant and “amazing” companion.

“He goes with me pretty much everywhere I go and helps provide that relief,” Sockett told West Virginia affiliate WTAP.

Sockett said Hercules has helped him get back out into society and talk to people again, something his PTSD caused him to struggle with.

One of America's VetDogs most famous service canine graduates was Sully, who was paired with and served former President George H.W. Bush for six months in 2018.

"A great joy to welcome home the newest member of our family, “Sully,” a beautiful—and beautifully trained—lab from @AmericasVetDogs. Could not be more grateful, especially for their commitment to our veterans,” a post on Bush's Twitter said at the time.

Sully has gone on to servicing new veterans at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, DC.

Interested? You can apply online now to become a weekend puppy raiser.

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