MONTGOMERY COUNTY — September is Service Dog Awareness Month, and WMAR-2 News is taking a closer look at the incredible bond between veterans and their service animals. One veteran's four-legged partner not only helps her heal, but also saved her life.
WATCH: Warrior Canine Connection trains service dogs to heal Veterans’ invisible wounds
Molly O’Connell spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. Her job was among the most challenging — she deployed multiple times and was often assigned to mortuary duty. Years of lifting the bodies of the fallen damaged her spine so severely that she had to learn to walk again while coping with the trauma of everything she had seen.
She admits there were moments she thought about ending her life. But then came Bryce… her service dog.
“He was, he was my reason to stay, fully my reason to stay. I don't know where I'd be or if I would have come through it if they hadn't given me him, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the rest of my life. But he gives me a purpose,” said O’Connell. Molly’s access to Bryce was made possible by Warrior Canine Connection, a national nonprofit that pairs specially trained service dogs with veterans.
The organization’s process begins with volunteer puppy raisers who teach the basics, such as potty training and socialization, before the dogs advance to service dog training.
At the heart of the program is Mission-Based Trauma Recovery, or MBTR, where veterans, active-duty service members, and their families volunteer to help train those future service dogs.
“We like to, you know, think of it as puppy college, so to speak, you know, they, they go through all their, all their early education and then they come and live here for a little bit, and, um, you know, they've got a little bit more rigorous of a course load before heading off into their full-time career,” said Mar Leifield, Assistant Director of MBTR at Warrior Canine Connection. Katie Hearn, a senior service dog training instructor with Warrior Canine Connection, says the training is intensive.
“We've got wonderful volunteers who help with enrichment, but the dogs get trained for at least 2 hours a day, every day, Monday through Friday, and we're doing things like outings and teaching them to retrieve objects, to open doors, things like that,” said Hearn. For Molly, those skills have meant survival.
“It's more than just an animal. It's a, it's a mechanism to cope. It's like having a therapist by your side all the time because I'll have good days, I'll have bad days, but I can look over and I can call his name and he'll come running and jump on top of me and I know. That somebody's always by my side and somebody's always gonna be there for me, and I think that's the important part of it,” said O’Connell. As Service Dog Awareness Month shines a light on programs like Warrior Canine Connection, veterans like Molly hope more people understand that service dogs aren’t just pets — they’re lifelines.
Puppy raisers are also needed. Warrior Canine Connection is looking for volunteers to foster puppies from four to 18 months and is willing to teach them the basics before they're placed with a veteran. To learn more information or sign up to volunteer, click here.
Organizations like SaluteToDuty are also stepping up to help. The nonprofit donates 100% of its proceeds from selling LaPins to provide veterans with service dogs and supports groups like Warrior Canine Connection. Learn more at https://www.salutetodutyusa.com/.