{"id":4219,"date":"2018-12-12T20:52:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T02:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.diamondpet.wearewoodruff.xyz\/?p=4219"},"modified":"2026-02-17T10:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:08:15","slug":"k9s-on-the-front-line-someone-to-watch-their-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/performance\/training-performance\/k9s-on-the-front-line-someone-to-watch-their-backs\/","title":{"rendered":"K9s on the Front Line: Someone to Watch Their Backs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWithout this program, I don\u2019t know what a lot of us would do,\u201d says Joey Vineyard, a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army and Missouri National Guard and a retired firefighter.<\/p>\n<p>The program he\u2019s talking about is <a href=\"https:\/\/k9sonthefrontline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">K9s on the Front Line<\/a>. The \u201cus\u201d is disabled veterans. The Maine-based program that provides certified, trained service dogs to military veterans affected by PTSD and\/or traumatic brain injury was recently established in central Missouri by Jason Howe, another disabled veteran who graduated from the program in Maine. And heading into the fifth week of the first training class, the bond between veteran and dog is already akin to a military unit.<\/p>\n<h2>Someone to watch their backs<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HDZXZLrzlAw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThree-year-old Paddington was Joey\u2019s pet dog for two years before becoming his service dog. Though K9s on the Front Line specializes in pairing its veterans with rescue dogs, if a family dog seems like a good fit, they can be enrolled in the training program. For Joey, the work is paying off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I get anxious and keyed up, he comes to me and licks my face and calms me down,\u201d Joey says. \u201cIf it\u2019s really bad, he gets up on the couch in my lap and puts his face in my face and makes me focus on him, not the bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When in the active service, soldiers always have someone to watch their backs. \u201cLeave no one behind.\u201d When their service is over, soldiers often feel alone, like that extra set of eyes is gone. Some no longer feel safe in crowds. Some find it hard to work. Some are simply coiled too tightly.<\/p>\n<p>For U.S. Army veteran William Adams Jr., all of this was true. After returning home, he couldn\u2019t hold down a job. His kids were afraid to stay home alone with him. Crowds were a no-go. Then he met Dexter, the first dog in Jason\u2019s program, and it all changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat set me off in crowds was too many people; I couldn\u2019t see everything,\u201d William recalls. \u201cI couldn\u2019t scan enough heads to see where someone was, if need be.\u201d Dexter brings him peace of mind. William has a job now working construction, and Dexter tags along. They go to the rodeo together. \u201cNow I know I have someone watching my back,\u201d he says. \u201cDexter is the best battle buddy I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michelle Matthews, a 20-year Army veteran, knew the power of the dog long before she became part of K9s on the Front Line. She got a dog in 2008 when she returned from Baghdad, and suddenly, she started sleeping better. He was her right hand. When he passed away, she never really considered another dog until she ran into Jason and his service dog, Sobee, at the VA. Suddenly, it all clicked. She could have a dog who was <em>trained<\/em> to help her.<\/p>\n<p>And like Joey and Paddington and William and Dexter, Michelle and her new pup, one-year-old Callie, are already a success story. \u201cWhen I have a lot going on, I might have a meltdown. She jumps into my lap and puts her head on my shoulder,\u201d Michelle says. \u201cIt\u2019s what she does. She changes the perspective.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe brings me back.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Get involved<\/h3>\n<p>Joey, William and Michelle are just some of the veterans enrolled in the first Missouri class of K9s on the Front Line. With the motto \u201cno veteran left behind,\u201d Jason Howe looks to continue getting the word out about his program so that every veteran knows that help is out there. His immediate goal is to enroll more veterans, while his long-term hope is to find a permanent training facility. But he can\u2019t do it without help. If you\u2019d like to learn more, spread the word or otherwise help K9s on the Front Line Missouri, visit their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MOK9SOTFL\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWithout this program, I don\u2019t know what a lot of us would do,\u201d says Joey Vineyard, a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army and Missouri National Guard and a retired firefighter. The program he\u2019s talking about is K9s on the Front Line. The \u201cus\u201d is disabled veterans. The Maine-based program that provides certified, trained service [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"K9s on the Front Line: Service Dogs Supporting Veterans","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn how K9s on the Front Line is improving the lives of veterans with PTSD by providing trained service dogs, fostering deep connections &amp; offering support.","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,322,686,268],"tags":[128,101,10,306,121],"class_list":["post-4219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-performance","category-training-performance","category-working-dogs","tag-diamond-pet","tag-diamond-pet-food","tag-dog","tag-k9s","tag-k9s-on-the-front-line"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}