September is National Service Dog Month! This month, we celebrate, appreciate, and raise awareness for all the extraordinary service dogs who work hard for the people in their care. At Plato Pet Treats, we work hard to support the health, happiness, and overall quality of life for all pets, and recognize that service dogs help our loved ones. As a result, the people around us thrive.
Service dogs have an important job to do, which is why it is important to care for them just as much as they care for their owners. Whether they are caring for someone with mental health issues, disabilities, or providing support for wounded warriors, service dogs play a huge role in society.
Keep reading to see how you can support service dogs this month (and year-round), as well as what Plato Pet Treats is doing to contribute to the overall health and wellness of these four-legged heroes.
What do service dogs do?
Service dogs can help people with hundreds of different tasks and needs. Here are a few different ways service dogs can improve someone’s quality of life from Anything Pawsable:
- Hearing service dogs can alert their owner to specific sounds, such as alarms, a door opening, a baby crying, their name being called, etc.
- Psychiatric service dogs can provide medication reminders, interrupt dissociative episodes, retrieve a first-aid or care kit, interrupt flashbacks, and more.
- Visual assistance and guide service dogs can help guide their owner along specific routes, alert their owner about obstacles, guide them around hazards, take handlers to an exit, and more.
- Medical and alert service dogs can alert their owner about a seizure before it happens, alert them about high or low blood sugar, and more.
- Service dogs can serve as guide dogs for veterans, people with disabilities, and the visually impaired.
Organizations Plato Pet Treats Supports and Partners With
Shelter to Soldier
Shelter to Soldier is a nonprofit located in Ramona, California that adopts dogs from shelters and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain injury, and/or Military Sexual Trauma.
Shelter to Soldier’s program also places emotional support animals with active-duty military and veterans, and deploys the Shelter to Soldier Canine Ambassadors, a team of certified therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers, to provide no-cost visits of love and comfort to local military, veterans, and their families.
How you can help:
Donate here
Shop their store here
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
Best Friends is an organization based in Utah that is changing the future for pets in shelters. Their goal is to make sure that everyone has the same access to loving pets and that every adoptable pet has access to the comfort of a foster home instead of a kennel in a shelter.
With the help and contribution of Best Friends, pets are valued and their potential to make a difference is recognized. Many dogs brought to Best Friends all over the country have been adopted and trained as service dogs for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as individuals in need of therapy and emotional support animals.
Read Gherri and Chunk’s story here
Read Sue and Lady Diana’s story here
Read Joseph and Chata’s story here
How you can help:
Fresno Bully Rescue
Fresno Bully Rescue’s job is to provide a healthy and loving temporary home while they look for a forever home for bully breeds.
In California, an overwhelming number of dogs are being surrendered to shelters due to foreclosures. Bully breeds are the first to be euthanized if no one adopts or rescues them, and as a result, over one million pit bulls are euthanized in the United States yearly. Fresno Bully Rescue has rescued over 2,500 dogs and houses over 40 dogs at all times.
A service provided by Fresno Bully Rescue includes bringing qualified and certified shelter dogs to visit senior living facilities, homeless shelters, and to participants of the Disabled Veterans Program. This service provides comfort for those struggling with loneliness, sadness, or disability.
How you can help:
Volunteer here
Donate here
Check out the Shelter Amazon Wish List here
Why Does Plato Pet Treats Care about National Service Dog Month?
National Service Dog Month is a time to raise awareness and show appreciation for the incredible work service dogs do for those in need of care. At Plato Pet Treats, our goal is to contribute to the health and wellness of dogs in all areas, and one way to do that is by partnering with these incredible organizations. By donating products and supporting our customers who adopt these incredible dogs, we hope to raise awareness about the contribution service dogs make to our society and encourage others to take action.
This month let’s lift service dogs up and give them the recognition they deserve!
The Plato Pet Treats Cycle of Virtue
The Cycle of Virtue can be defined like this: a chain of events in which one desirable occurrence leads to another which further promotes the first occurrence and so on resulting in a continuous process of improvement. We love our pets and want to provide the best we can for them, and when we bless them in this way, they continue to bless us with a better quality of life and increased lifespan. This is a beautiful thing.
