Shelter dog to help support troops at sea
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - For the last decade, the non-profit Shelter to Solider has been training shelter dogs to be psychiatric service animals for military Veterans.
Now, they're working directly with the U.S. Navy to bring the healing powers of the pups to thousands of of active-duty Marines and sailors.
Raider is one of the newest trainees at Shelter to Soldier and right now, he's getting ready to head out on a very important mission: To support our troops at sea.
Life at sea can be stressful for our men and women in uniform.
"They have big jobs with big expectations and that comes with a little extra stress," said Nicky Moore, Director of Training & Operations at Shelter to Solider.
But the next time the USS Makin Island deploys, they'll have a new type of stress-relief.
"[Raider] is the biggest, like sweet [and] lovable, like just wants all the affection in the world, so he was made for this job," Moore shared.
Raider is Shelter to Soldier's first morale dog to be stationed on a U.S. Navy ship full-time. To get ready for his big assignment, he's been training aboard the USS Midway Museum and at Shelter to Soldier's Oceanside campus, getting used to wearing booties to protect his paws.
"Learning how to wear hearing protection and eye protection, and then getting used to all the noises that ships make, and that there is on a day-to-day operation," Moore explained.
Raider will have his own room on the ship, and five handlers who are also being trained to learn all the commands, as well as how to groom him and give him first aid, if necessary.
"So that he has a full support system there and that there's enough people to where he can really touch as many of the sailors on a day-to-day basis as possible," Moore expressed.
Raider is set to join the Makin Island crew at the end of August and he'll deploy with them next year.
Shelter to Soldier says they're already in the process of finding and training morale dogs for a couple other ships as well.
