Ga. nonprofit that gives support dogs to veterans may have to stop if they don’t get new funding

LILBURN, Ga. — A non-profit in Lilburn aiming to help veterans is now in need of help.

Top Dogg K-9 Foundation tries to prevent veteran suicides by training service dogs, but now they might have to stop offering those services, due to lack of funding.

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They’re friendly and well-trained. It’s that kind of training that makes them so important.

“We have helped over 2,500 veterans and their families and we have trained over 400 service dogs for combat veterans,” said Sheila Rashad.

Rashad with Top Dogg K-9 Foundation told Channel 2′s Larry Spruill that these dogs are needed to provide emotional support to veterans and not just medication.

“The treatment that we recommend comes with four legs, a wet nose, and some specialized training,” said Rashad.

Davette Campbell is one of those veterans. She served in Iraq.

“The support is amazing. One of the first steps to healing is acknowledging that something isn’t quite right the way that it is and to accept the help,” said Campbell.

“We’re at a ‘Red Alert.’ We don’t have the resources. We have about 35 dogs that were in training to become service dogs and we don’t have the resources to care for the dogs,” said Rashad.

Rashad said the government often refers their organization to veterans, but they don’t get the support from Washington.

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“The VA doesn’t send any funding. There’s a lot of red tape involved in getting the funding from the Veterans Administration to care for these dogs and veterans,” said Rashad.

That’s why they’re preparing to adopt these animals to families that can take care of them.

“We’re going to be doing an adoption. A lot of these dogs have already had some training, some service dog training,” said Rashad.

The adoption will happen on Saturday at the non-profit.

They’re also trying to raise $50,000 to keep the program going. For more information on the organization, click here.

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