We are delighted to award a £20,000 grant to Service Dogs UK to enable Army veterans to access its assistance dog programme.
Service Dogs is the only UK charity that provides the benefit of specially trained assistance dogs to veterans suffering with PTSD. The dogs are trained to help with nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and panic attacks; a veteran partnered with a dog and taught how to look after them under the guidance of professional dog trainers.
Our grant will partly fund the costs of four Army veterans accessing the charity’s 2022 programme and become fully accredited assistance dogs partnerships.
Garry Botterill, Founder and Operations Director Service Dogs UK said:
“As we have grown, we have seen just how much the symbiotic relationship between a “rescue” dog and a veteran with PTSD can transform lives and be a powerful catalyst during our 9-12 month programme. The journey is one of positive support and accomplishment, where the Veteran and dog help each other to achieve success.
“We help them at every step towards accreditation as they work alongside other veterans as part of a community of peers. We are hugely grateful to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity for this generous grant that helps us to provide life changing support to our Army veterans.”
Peter Monteith, Chief of Staff at ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, added:
“Service Dogs UK is a unique award winning charity doing fantastic work with veterans diagnosed with PTSD. We were only too happy to enable more veterans to develop lifelong partnerships with these special highly trained dogs this year.”
To learn more about Service Dogs UK, visit their website here.