KTVN 2 News Nevada
A local organization is giving dogs from high euthanasia, high-capacity shelters in parts of California a purpose, saving them from euthanasia and training them as service dogs.
Once taken in, the dogs become a part of the shelter foster program. Liberty Dogs has community members foster the dogs while they go through training to become a service animal and then they are adopted by veterans suffering from PTSD. Crystal Swan, the Shelter Foster Program Manager says their team has to find dogs with specific personalities to be successful.
“We have a full assessment team that goes in and does a multi-day assessment. And what they’re doing is they’re looking for dogs based on temperament more so than breed,” said Swan. “They’re looking for a dog social and people social dogs. And we’re specifically targeting one of the most at risk populations in these shelters, which are large breed adult dogs.”
The dogs live with foster families and are brought to the campus to be trained. The training is very specific and if a dog doesn’t end up being a good fit as a service dog, they have other career opportunities like becoming a hearing service, a facility, a therapy or a comfort dog.
