08/30/2024
BLOG: SAVING LIVES FOUR PAWS AT A TIME
July 30, 2024
The fact that 24 veterans kill themselves every day in America is why our goal at Service Peace Warriors is to match dogs and veterans. Our mission is to raise, train, and provide service dogs free of charge for honorably discharged veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other disabilities. By doing this, we hope to empower these individuals to live the life that they deserve. SPW is the only service dog organization in Eastern Washington providing free, fully trained service dogs to veterans with service-connected Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We have proudly placed ninety service dogs to date.
With support from the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, we can provide the equipment needed for ten teams (veteran, dog). The equipment is vital for veterans and their service dogs. They are trained from day one in the proper use of this equipment and to ensure they always have it with them. This equipment not only clearly identifies their service dog as a service animal but also provides them with the necessary help they need when navigating daily environments with their service dog.
Founder Mary Mattox has suffered from complex PTSD since childhood. After training her service dog Sky and seeing the significant impact she has made in her day-to-day life, she wanted to give back to others who were suffering from PTSD. With twenty-four veterans committing su***de daily, Mary Mattox, along with her son Chance Mattox, decided they wanted to give back to veterans and opened Service Peace Warriors.
Service Peace Warriors puppies all go out to puppy raisers who live in our community. Raisers raise the puppies for about 12 to 15 months and then returns the dog back to SPW so it can then go into obedience and vested service dog training. We used 4H kids, and families to puppy raise, and then once the dogs graduated training, we brought the raisers out to meet the veteran who received the dog they raised. This is usually an emotional meeting for the veteran and the family, being the veteran is grateful for the sacrifice the family made raising and loving a dog and then giving it back. Most families take another puppy and repeat the process.