Soldier’s Best Friend Veteran Service Dog Team to Speak February 1

Larry and Dodger

Marge Ellison

The Pet Companions Club of PebbleCreek is pleased to have the veteran service dog team of Larry and Dodger as our guest speaker at our General Membership meeting Wednesday, Feb. 1. We will meet in Room 100 of the Eagle’s Nest Activities Center at 3 p.m. All PebbleCreek residents, whether club members or not, are invited to attend. There is no charge. Masks are recommended but not required.

Larry and his service dog, Dodger, graduated from Soldier’s Best Friend training program in 2018. Larry served in the navy and remains an active member of the Soldier’s Best Friend family.

Soldiers Best Friend provides United States military veterans living with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) with service or therapeutic companion dogs, most of whom are rescued from local shelters. The veteran and the dog train together to build a trusting relationship, which helps the veteran live with his or her combat-related condition. To date, Soldier’s Best Friend has graduated 342 teams.

A secondary goal of Soldier’s Best Friend is to make a positive impact on the pet overpopulation problem. To date, they have rescued more than 200 homeless Arizona dogs.

As always, a donation box will be available at the meeting for such pet related items as: pet toys, pet food, leashes, collars, cages, blankets, medications, etc. Those items not used for our PebbleCreek rescues will be donated to other local animal rescues.

Please address any questions to Jim or Marge Ellison at 623-935-6651.