Linda A.

This is a honest review from a recipient that received a service animal from this organization. I personally feel it's important to reveal to the public this information especially after I have addressed my concerns regarding the substandard training of some of these service animals which were presented both in writing and verbally to the CEO of this organization. First, I want to say the intent of this organization to provide service animals to disabled veterans is commendable and noteworthy. I feel that every other aspect of this organization involving administrative practices, day to day operations, and the training program to house the incoming veterans to receive their service animal is spot on point and phenomenal. However, the main mission of this program is to provide highly trained service animals to veterans which is not being met either by Assistance Dog International (ADI)/ADA qualification criteria. I attest that the service dogs that were given to veterans during my stay were aggressive in nature which consisted of growling, lunging, attacking each other, and showing signs of unprovoked aggression. The dogs could not remain behaviorally stable in certain environments which caused more trauma and problems for the veteran especially during our stay on site as well as when we returned home with our service dog. I attended the Class of October 2021 along with 9 other women. Out of 10 women that received a service dog, 8 of those service dogs were returned because the aggressive behaviors and them being behaviorally unstable. Also, three or four of these women were repeats to K9 for Warriors class as their previous dogs were returned for reason for aggressive or unstable behaviors. To be completely honest, I believe as a group, we should have addressed and questioned these aggressive behaviors and manners that were present and displayed while we were going through the initial 3 weeks training at the training site. These dogs would lunged, growled, and attack one another in a group setting especially while in the public, at restaurants, and on the training site. Most of the dogs were not trained to ignore distractions and behave poorly thereby causing several intense and sad moments where veterans broke down and cried due to frustration and not being able to handle the aggressive behaviors displayed by their dogs. Some even wanted to quit but the training instructor would talk them out of it saying to "trust the process" and help them momentarily to get pass focusing on the aggressive behavior by saying it will get better. More often than not, the class trainers would blamed the dog's behavior on us as we were told that the dogs were feeding off our anxiety and some classmates believed it, not knowing any better that the dogs just lacked proper training as service dog. Additionally, our dogs were so aggressive that in our class group photo, each classmate's and their dogs were 2 to 4 feet apart from the other because the dogs aggression during the photo shoot could not be restrained from attacking one another. There was also one classmate's dog that stood out more than anyone else. This classmate's dog was so aggressive and uncontrollable that they switched the dog out after a week and half and gave her a second dog that was worse in nature to the first dog. This classmate's new dog could not do even one lap on the walking track because it was so untamed and out of control. The behavior of her dog affected her so much that she started not coming in to eat but once a day because she did not want to interact with others because it would prompt her dog in an aggressive frenzy with other dogs. Believe it or not, this dog and the veteran graduated from the program even when she could not control or even walk one lap with her dog. Needless to say, she was the first to return her dog. Yes, out of 8 of 10 veteran women, we experience even more aggressive behavior from their dogs once we returned home. One classmate service dog in particular had attacked and bite her small child on the face and displayed other behaviors like stealing food from the family table after a few weeks at home. Another classmate's was so behaviorally uncontrollable, that her dog pulled her down a flight of stairs and fractured her hip. As for my service dog, he started lunging, growling and barking at people at my apartment complex and I could not have anyone come over without him excessivley barking and charging to the door anytime someone knocked. Even after being provided two outside trainers to address my service dog's behavior, my dog still would excessively bark and would charge at guests, maintenance workers, and family when they entered the apartment and he even began to digress in acting aggressively toward people walking by or entering my apartment complex after the training sessions. Now, as a handler, I felt as though I was walking around with a lethal weapon, not sure if or when he would do something to harm someone which would make me liable. I finally had to come to a very hard decision to return my service dog to back to this organization or I could continue to be seek more training to deal with my dog's problems which would continue to add more anxiety and frustration to my life. I chose to return him especially after encountering him charging after a maintenance person after I opened the door and caught him by the collar before anything could happen. I don't know what my dog would have done but it was not a moment that I would allow it to happen. At any rate, I called the next day to return him and K9FW was somewhat not surprised that I called and we arranged for a pick up of my dog. I spent over a year with my service dog whom I do miss tremendously because I was attached to him. He was basically a good dog in general, but lacked avoiding distractions, displayed sporadic aggressive behavior, and was overly protective of me, all traits and manner not conducive of a service animal. Even though there has been a change of leadership in K9 For Warriors, there are still training issues that warrant an overhaul of the entire dog training program and to relook at the type of dogs they are given to veteran that show substandard behavior especially during the initial training class with the veteran. K9 for Warriors have to know that it's more than just getting the dogs to meet the requirement for the public access certification. These dogs must perform and function as a highly trained service that are not aggressive, can ignore distractions, and must be well manner at all times. Last month, I learned that another graduate in my state was experiencing similar issue with her dog which means this organization still have to work on training issues. I gave this organization a 2 stars because the mission of this organization is to provide highly trained to veterans which they are not living up to its own mission.

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