It Takes a Village

Every time there is a new partnering we are reminded it takes a village.  The service dog has been touched by so many lives leading up to it being partnered with a person with a disability.  From the selection process with  local shelter/rescue to one of several veterinary clinics stepping up on short notice to evaluate the hips of the dog by x-ray, spay/neuter if necessary and bring the dog up-to-date on vaccinations, to transporting the dog to it's new career and then the training and outings.  Countless people involved in the process including our funders and donors.  We congratulate and thank each and every one of you whose hands and feet make our mission possible. 

The help of our supporters, new friends and social media could not have been 

more evident than in the last week.  On Tuesday, May 14th, a Airedale Mix was spotted on a Facebook post at Woodland West Pet Resort in Tulsa OK.  A Facebook email to a friend in revealed she was in the area and would call the resort.  The dog, named Charlie, was found walking down the exit ramp of a busy highway.  No one claimed him after all the necessary advertising.  Woodland West needed to find him an adopter because they did not want him to go to the pound.  Our friend temperament tested Charlie on Wednesday and the results were good.  On Thursday Charlie was neutered, his hips evaluated and vaccinated by Woodland West Animal Hospital.  On Friday a request was put on the Canine for Service facebook page asking for anyone with contacts to help get the dog from Tulsa, OK to Charleston, SC.  One of our Board Members is in the Air Force Reserves and she posted the request on her personal facebook page.  A response came in that someone knew an Airman completing flight school and traveling back to Charleston.  On Friday night between 5 to 9 pm plans were solidified and Charlie would be on route from Tulsa to Charleston.

Does this happen often?  Well, not for us.  This is the furthest we have ever obtained a dog from for the Canines for Veterans program.  We are overwhelmed by the number of people who stepped up to assist  for the sake of one stray dog and a program that speaks to peoples hearts.  

Charlie has been renamed Rafiki, Swahili word for "Friend", seems fitting for this boy who has already become the friend of so many.  Now, it is our turn to shape him into the service dog he is destined to be.   Our many thanks to Pat, Summer at Woodland West Pet Resort, Sarah and Dr. Johnson  at Woodland West Animal Hospital, Shawna for the contacts for transport, Airman Ben for giving the Rafiki a ride to Charleston.  Without each and every one of you, this would not have happened. 

We the People

This week the world news looked back on the remarkable day when President John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural speech and challenged every American to “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country".  Every day while we sit in our cozy homes and snuggle into our warm beds at night, there is a man or woman who has given that up to defend our freedoms.  They have left behind a mother and father, brother and sister, husband, wife and children and gone to a hostile and harsh land.  When our service members return home, some are bruised and battered, missing limbs, shattered in ways many of us will never know, left to pick up the pieces of their lives and fit back into society. For some, the bruising and battering has gone further than the body.  It has bruised and battered their inner most self and they struggle to once again find who they are.   

We the people need to step up and serve the ones who have guarded and protected us. Some serve by volunteering in their local USO, others by packing boxes of goodies to be delivered to our service members, yet others help to physically build a home or a ramp.  For Carolina Canines, we serve by providing a medical option in the form of a quality trained service dog.  Not just any dog, a thoroughly assessed and highly trained creature that will change a persons’ life. 

This week, we celebrated the partnering of a Carolina Canines for Veterans service dog team.  One person, who has served his country and one dog trained to serve that individual.  Meet James and Abel.  James served his country as a Combat Engineer in the United States Marine Corps.  He has been deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan.  In June 2006 during his mission in Ramadi, Iraq he was injured by an IED.  

Service Dog Abel was rescued by a Wilmington, NC rescue group, Tails U Win, and provided to Carolina Canines for Veterans after he  passed a temperament evaluation.  Abel then began his training which took place initially at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Brig before being transferred with the Carolina Canines for Veterans program to the Naval Consolidated Brig- Charleston.  Abel completed over 2,000 hours of training to be ready to serve. 

James continues to serve his country and works on healing his wounds.  Our hope is that Service Dog Abel will make it possible to regain more independence and the quality of life he and his family once knew.   We the people,  helping those who have served and serving our country.

Remembering Katrina

Seems like yesterday we were glued to the news watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the surrounding areas.  Not only did a major hurricane hit the city, but a secondary event when the levies gave way and the city was flooded and then two additional hurricanes. 

What happened in the aftermath was one of the largest outpourings of love and support from around the country and the world.  Five years has passed and there has been many changes; many residents of New Orleans returned and many choose not to.  The city is rebuilding and will for years to come.

Carolina Canines was forever changed by the events that unfolded in the days and months following the hurricane.  Hurricane Katrina left people devastated and it also left thousands of animals devastated.  The large animal groups like United Animal Nations (UAN) and ASPCA stepped in to assist with the animals, large and small, domesticated and not so domesticated.  These groups worked with smaller organizations throughout the country to save the non-human victims of the hurricane.  Carolina Canines was one of the groups that worked with UAN and ASPCA. 

Carolina Canines Hurricane Katrina Animal Relief saw an outpouring of community support with 260 volunteers working 3500 volunteer hours in just a few short months.  Rescues from many area groups came together to lovingly care for the 53 dogs and cats that arrived in Wilmington.  Over 67% of the animals owners were contacted, Carolina Canines received national and local recognition, 11 dogs were reunited, the others found adoptive homes and all of the cats found adoptive homes. 

To see more about this project, click on the link http://www.carolinacanines.net/uploads/Katrina_Presentation_Rev_May08.pdf

We learned a lot from this experience, but perhaps most importantly we learned their are good people in this world that come together to help at a time of need. 

Holly to Help with Healing

A little over two years ago, Chaplain Donald Twist’s life took a turn he was not expecting. During a training mission in preparation for deployment, a near-death drowning that left him questioning many things, including his faith. The last couple of years have been long, trying and tense.


Balancing healing, family life with his wife Denise and their two children, and a U.S. Navy career as a Chaplain, it all has been too much for Donald at times. The mobility issues he has experienced have paled in comparison to the issues exhibited by the post traumatic stress disorder. Difficulty sleeping, nightmares, difficulty being in crowds and feelings of isolation have compounded Donald’s ability to heal his mind and body.

Last December, two years post injury, Chaplain Twist made a conscience decision to change some things in his life and to move forward. That day, he placed a call to Carolina Canines for Service to ask about a service dog. Initially, asking if we might consider trying his dog, and then learning that is not something our organization did, Donald submitted application for a service dog from Carolina Canines for Veterans. Some months went by, and the call finally arrived that Donald was waiting for. A dog was ready for him and team training was scheduled.

Chaplain Twist met service dog Holly and he knew instantly, this was the dog he had prayed for. Perfect for him in many ways, she looked more like a Labrador retriever then her other possible mixes (Greyhound or Great Dane), was not too large and was short hair.  Holly came from local Wilmington rescue, Tails U Win. 

Donald embarked on an intense week of training to learn how to work with Holly and begin their bonding process.   On the second full day of training, Donald took Holly back to his hotel with him for the night. During team training, this is when the real bonding begins to happen, when the person and the dog have to rely on each other. The next morning, Donald shared that he experienced his first nightmare free sleep in over two years.

The week of team training has been exhausting, even though Donald has slept better the last few nights with Holly near him, then he has in over two years. He has enjoyed his experience team training with Holly, meeting her military prison handlers and looks forward to her working with him in his home and his duties as a Chaplain. Donald jokingly says, “Holly has a codependent personality disorder and I am completely fine with that.”

Meet Magdalene, Service Dog In Training

Thanks to Carolina Animal Protection (http://www.capsrescue.org/) for the newest member of the Carolina Canines for Veterans program. Magdalene, formerly known as Molly, was rescued by CAPS and was awaiting the perfect home when we spotted her. She was already on hold for a couple waiting to complete their home interview, but when litter mates Max and Maddy did not meet our requirements, CAPS graciously let us test this girl. Of course, she passed with flying colors!

Carolina Canines waited to hear if Magdalene would be ours and the happy call came Thursday evening. The CAPS Foster Mom and Volunteer, Jane, met our director early Friday to transfer the girl to our program. This is another great example of local non-profits working together for the good of the dog and in this case, a person with a disability in the future.

The prison handlers at the brig are very excited to have this little girl in the program and she will be well cared for and loved. She was already learning to sit on command with the guidance of treats and loving every minute of it. Over the next several months, Magdalene will learn many tasks in addition to growing and maturing. Follow our blog as we keep you updated on her service dog training adventures.

A New Kid in Town

There’s a new kid in town and her training starts now. Meet Holly. She is a lab mix that came to Carolina Canines by way of Tails U Win. She has yet to realize her full potential, but she is already starting to walk to a new cadence.

Holly is the newest addition to the Carolina Canines for Veterans training program. After another online search of numerous dogs, Holly was temperament tested just before the Memorial Day weekend and proved herself worthy of the next step, the hip evaluation. Holly visited a local veterinarian and was found to have good hips and joined the program on May 28th.

Her future job is not yet known so for now she will spend the next several weeks working on basic obedience under the guidance of her prison handler. Once she masters the basics, Holly will progress to learning long distance retrieval, opening doors, turning on light, loading a washer, unloading a dryer and learn to be guided by a laser light to objectives to pick up. Her destiny, the service dog of one deserving wounded warrior.