Hometown Hero Outdoors

Canine Heroes: How Service Dogs Transform Veterans Lives with Sam Daly

• Hometown Hero Outdoors • Season 2 • Episode 13

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How often do we get an opportunity to peek into the life of a military veteran who, after serving in places like Afghanistan, comes home to serve his community in an equally exceptional way? Meet Sam Daly, the founder and former executive director of Believet Canine Service Partners. He's been in the trenches and knee-deep in the Afghan dirt training dogs for bomb detection, and now, he's channeling his expertise into training service dogs to help his comrades—our disabled veterans. His story is one of passion, commitment, and an unyielding spirit to serve.

Sam walks us through the rigorous process of training these furry partners, the challenges he faces, and the immense satisfaction of seeing them bring life-changing benefits to veterans. The process isn't just about picking a cute puppy and training it to fetch; Sam and his team go above and beyond to ensure these service dogs are customized to match the unique needs and environments of their veteran partners. Hear all about Sam's personal experiences and the inspiring stories of veterans whose lives have been transformed by these canine companions.

But, it's not all about the dogs. It's about the veterans they serve, and how organizations like Believet Canine Service Partners are helping them rebuild their lives. Sam sheds light on the support process for veterans to be part of this program and how we, as a community, can contribute to this noble cause. This is more than just a podcast episode; it's an invitation to honor our military service members, veterans, and first responders through understanding, empathy, and action. Join us on this heartwarming journey where courage meets compassion, and service takes on a whole new meaning.

Produced by Phil Ewert Productions

Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions

hometownherooutdoors.org

Speaker 1:

In the land of 10,000 lakes, a remarkable movement was born. Welcome to Hometown Hero Outdoors. We are dedicated to honoring our military service members, veterans and first responders by providing them with unforgettable outdoor recreational opportunities. We believe those who have served and sacrificed so much for our country and communities deserve a chance to reclaim their spirit and find healing in the great outdoors. This is Hometown Hero Outdoors. Welcome to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. Here is your host, chris Taitro.

Speaker 2:

And welcome back to our Hometown Hero Outdoors listeners. We have another Wednesday here with the podcast. It's been an exciting week, or a couple of weeks going on around the organization. Just to give you a little update, you know there's things going on all over the country.

Speaker 2:

You know, a couple of weeks ago, we had the Hometown Hero Outdoors Texas chapters banquet down there. That was pretty phenomenal. Phil was gracious enough to do a sit-in for me from one of the podcasts I was spending. It was a very long couple of days, that weekend especially, and Phil came in clutch and helped me out with helping out Pete Rittmasters. So thank you, phil, I appreciate you there.

Speaker 2:

And then this past weekend was really busy as well. Just here in Minnesota alone there's a handful of different events, and throughout the country there was more. So we've been busy and we're in the depths of the fall and hunting season and a lot of people are still fishing at that. So this past weekend was kind of interesting. It was a very busy weekend for myself as well, as well as the Minnesota team, and just wanted to talk real quick about what we experienced this past weekend. Well, first I had the opportunity to head down to Worthington, minnesota, do a pheasant hunt with our Nobles County chapter, pheasants Forever, jackson County Pheasants Forever and Round Lake Sportsman's Club, and it was a very awesome and unique experience where we had 15 veterans that were able to get in the outdoors and go pheasant hunting with these phenomenal individuals, with all expenses provided and paid for for our veterans, so it was awesome. But one of the things I wanted to talk about, though, is the speech that I gave to these individuals this past weekend about how important our mission is and what they do for it. Without them, we can't do what we do, we cannot take individuals into the outdoors, and how to give them that mental health feeling that they receive when they're in outdoors. So it was very vital for them to hear that, and one of the big reasons that I bring that up is the camaraderie that is built on.

Speaker 2:

These trips are built through these adventures that they're in the outdoors, getting in all these people being able to relate, create these relationships that last a lifetime, outside of the service or as a first responder, which brings me to that morning before I went to Nobles County, worthington area, which was the Col J Lutz Memorial Suicide Awareness Prevention Walk. This is our ultimate goal is our mental health, to keep people alive, keep people on this planet that can create, continue their relationships with their families, friends, community, as well as enjoy their life. So the trips that we go on, such as the Nobles County Pheasants Forever Hunting Trip, was very vital to our organization, and trips alike in order to create those bonds, have this walk, raise awareness and tell people that it's okay to not be okay. Just don't stay there.

Speaker 2:

So, as we continue throughout the organization and doing what we do, I just want to give a big shout out and thank you to everyone who has helped provide a trip, take people in the outdoors, and I hope to see more of that happening and continuing to happen. And then, on top of that, we also had a sturgeon trip on the Sanctuary River here with some law enforcement officers a group of five and we were very gracious. We were able to have a Minnesota-bound film crew come out and talk to everyone. So, but yeah, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone and just please keep these trips coming in and helping our individuals out. They really need it and they matter, and a lot of them are feeling some stressors with our veterans when it comes to what's happening overseas between Israel and Ukraine. So it's very important for us to ensure that these trips are occurring and we're able to help them out. So it was a very eventful weekend. So, again, thank you very much everyone.

Speaker 1:

But today we have an awesome podcast.

Speaker 2:

Here we have Sam Daly with Believe it canine service partners. We will read his bio here in a moment, but I have my co-host here, Phil Eward, as well. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here today. So Sam? Sam is the founder and former executive director of Believe it canine, located in Northfield, Minnesota. Owner of Northfield Kennels Inc. Served two deployments to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2012 and 2013. Attached the US Marine 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, respectively as a civilian bomb dog trainer and forward support representative. After this assignment, Believe it was found. So I could Sam could continue to serve his country, to serve injured military veterans and improve the greater community In rural Northfield Minnesota, with my wife, Deborah, and five Labrador Retrievers. He enjoys running and judging the AKC performance events for Retrievers, songwriting, playing the guitar and shooting, sports hunting, fishing and woodworking. So, Sam, thank you very much for being here today. It feels like you have a pretty colorful history and you've been through some things yourself and looks like you're continuing to do things and enjoy life.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you very much for having me.

Speaker 2:

No, it's awesome that you're here. So how we got connected was through Phil, and Phil is here with my co-host tonight. Thank you, phil, for making the connection I want to say to the listeners and tell us a little about your connection with Sam.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I have not met Sam until tonight, but one of my coworkers is friends with Sam. We have a mutual friend named Todd Fuchs. Todd's in IT. He works for the same company that I do and we got to talking about dogs as Todd is a trainer of hunting dogs and he had mentioned to me that he had a good friend of his who had this organization. When I told him about our podcast and I thought what a perfect marriage, I guess, of two organizations where hometown hero outdoors takes people into the outdoors veterans, law enforcement first responders and Sam trains dogs to help those veterans who might need help, you know, some sort of help with a dog as far as that with that mental health. So just figured we'd have him on and kind of talk about what he's doing.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, I know. Thanks for the connection. It's very exciting, especially because you have served Sam and you have quite the experience with dogs and being a civilian bomb to bomb dog trainer. That's pretty phenomenal. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where are you from, where you grew up, where you, where you hail from, you know where, where did you grow up and how did you get the being so connected with our canine friends?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So I grew up in Northfield Minnesota, went to school there, lived briefly in Southwest Wyoming and moved back home until I took the assignment you mentioned with the bomb dogs, where I moved to North Carolina, southern Pines, north Carolina. It's about 40 minutes from Fort Bragg and this was a. It was a good. It was a good opportunity and a good time for me to do that and it was ended up being sort of a surreal life changing experience. So we we trained over 600 bomb dogs in about a 60 year period there. I personally was in on in the neighborhood of 60 of those.

Speaker 3:

And then the marine the Marines would actually come to our location in North Carolina, train with us for five weeks and then we would go to their bases and train with them, you know, on their turf, and one thing sort of led to another. As a trainer I never imagined that I would end up being deployed, but that opportunity was available and I gladly accepted. I have spent my life camping and hunting and certainly no stranger to the outdoors, and so it was like the worst camping trip I've ever been on. But I was also pretty well prepared, you know, for those conditions Because I lived with the Marines, I trained with the Marines, traveled with them, you know ate, slept in the dirt with them and and was in you know, stressful situations with them.

Speaker 3:

The dogs that we trained were all laboratory retrievers. It was the first time they had ever used a dog off leash for bomb detection and the advantage there, of course, is standoff. So rather than having human personnel on a six foot leash with a dog who's at risk obviously of injury or death, the dog could be sent in from extreme distances. I mean, you know, two to 500 meters is not an exaggeration, depending on the environment, on the situation. But the dogs also quartered, quartered fields, quartered roads, ditches, bridges, culverts, vehicles, all kinds of things, as a pheasant dog would. And then they ran what they called with the Marine Corps, called point to points which was would be a blind retrieve for, you know, for a hunter, for a duck hunter or a field trailer, and so the dog could be sent long distances, check for threats, and they would act around the explosive the same way they would act around a bird, the only difference is that they don't fetch it. They are taught to give a passive response, which is to lay down and indicate its location, and then they're called back from that and then given a reward, which in our case was a rubber Kong toy, and so to them obviously it's serious business to us, but to them it was really just another game. And so they were very good at this and we found stuff basically every week, sometimes every day, and they saved a lot of limbs and a lot of lives in that environment.

Speaker 3:

And so it was is from that experience when I, when we came home, I was tell a story because it's kind of apropos, I guess, but the, the dogs were heartbreakers for the Marines. Okay, I mean, they lived with them for a long time, they'd trust them with their lives, they had slept with them in their cops and and to and to come back from deployment and have them go back into training and be assigned to a different handler was very tough for for most of them. And so I always say that they wanted to adopt all their dogs and they couldn't because they're still Marines and I wanted to adopt. I wanted to adopt all the Marines. And so I always say that they wanted to adopt all their dogs and they couldn't because they're still Marines and I wanted to adopt. I wanted to adopt all the Marines because and I couldn't either because we're very close. So, yeah, anyway, it was a great experience, so many friends and contacts, you know, through that experience, and it was a life changer for me.

Speaker 3:

So after I came back, well, I was overseas seven months, back six months and then overseas seven months, and so after coming back the second time, I returned to Minnesota and was still kind of in the fog of war. Frankly, I didn't have no interest in really hunting or training hunting dogs, certainly not family dogs. Everything seemed very trivial to me. And I spoke at a rotary club meeting and there was a gentleman there that said have you ever considered training, you know, service dogs for veterans? And we had just been talking about this at that at our training center and we're like, yeah, I wonder, you know, wonder how we do this. I wonder if we would be good at it. I wonder, you know, just I wonder. And. And so I said, well, I, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I wonder, you know, wonder how we do this, I wonder if we would be good at it. I wonder, you know, just I wonder, and. And so I said, well, I, I don't think I'll be able to set up that business. And he said Well, I've set up many businesses. I'd be happy to set the business up for you if you would do it. And so that's how we started.

Speaker 3:

It was really just through a speaking engagement, talking to a local group of Rotarians that were interested in the, you know, in the experience and the assignment that I had with the Marine Corps, and and for me it was therapy in a way too, because when I first came back I was pretty raw about many things. You know, thinking about many of the experiences we had with, you know was emotional for me, and it still can be. But through going, you know, going through this experience, and now we're nine years into training these service dogs for disabled military veterans, it's gotten much easier, much better. I have a different perspective on it and we're continuing to serve our country and serve our veterans, improve our community. I mean, these are all pretty, you know, pretty good experiences to have.

Speaker 1:

Well, first of all, sam, thank you very much for your service. You did provide a very important service to the Marines and you know, especially with the bombs, dipping dogs, and also I think that's great that you found something you're passionate about that you can still serve. You know you might not be active, you might not be directly supporting, but you know, as we're all in this same thing together when it comes to mental health awareness, especially for our veterans, I guess we're just really appreciative that there's someone like you out there.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you very much. You know, the most of the veterans that we serve well frankly, are suicidal and and have had attempts in the past. They may have had addiction issues to alcohol or other substances. They've gone through a lot and so we make sure that they're stable and well enough to go through our program. But it's such a relief to them that they don't have somebody else, another person, feeding them medication. So that is kind of the go-to strategy for treatment for mental health. For, say, major depressive disorder, anxiety, is to prescribe medications and as you all know you know, I mean, as we all know there can be many side effects from that. Many times they're taking something to help them sleep because they have sleeping issues, and the veterans then some can have trouble waking up and getting to a job or do some of the things that would be maybe what we would consider normal in a society for a younger person to do. And so it gets difficult when the medication interferes, and certainly addictive medication that would interfere with normal activity.

Speaker 3:

Most of our veterans, you know, they they frankly don't trust their own judgment and so sometimes they're quick to anger, and in small things, like if somebody cuts in front of you or I at the grocery store. We may think they're rude or something to that effect, but it may be a lot more personal to somebody that has post-traumatic stress and their anger can escalate quickly and rather than saying something or doing something that becomes an issue, it's easier for most of these veterans to just isolate, stay home, don't have a lot of interaction with people, because you never know how things might come out. You know, we had one person that went into a convenience store early in the morning five o'clock, five thirty or something in the morning and there was a guy that was having a bag from the night before and he went up and started bear hugging the guy's dog and he asked him not to touch his dog, not to pet his dog, and then it was well, what's your effing problem? And then it escalated and this and this guy I mean he, I mean he thought it was he was going to jail after that. I mean he thought that because of this interaction, that his own behavior was going to be the biggest issue of the day there.

Speaker 3:

And so, rather than risk being in those unpredictable behaviors or those situations where their behaviors can escalate, they tend to isolate. Well, when you have a service dog. Well, for one thing there's no medication right, so a lot of most all of our veterans can reduce or even eliminate many of their medications. And then the second thing is that the dog keeps them on a schedule. So now they have to get up in the morning because we have to get fed and we have to go potty and we have to get some exercise, and so those are all reasons why the dog can be a real changing force that is totally organic and not like anything else.

Speaker 1:

So I want to rewind you just a little bit. Thank you for that explanation. That actually helps. Can you talk to us about Believe it or Believe that? However you say it? How did you come up with that name, first of all, and then walk us through? You had already mentioned that somebody said they'd help you start it as a company, but if you could walk us through the beginning stages of how that all started.

Speaker 3:

Sure, yeah. So our IRS registered name is Canine Service Partners Incorporated and that's the 501C3 Charity. And we then adopted a trademark name that's Believe it, and it's kind of a play on words, right, Believe it. But we took the word Believe and the word Veteran and we just combined the two and then we trademarked that name. Yeah, I like it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so that was the origin of that. The origin of the starting of the company was my friend, john Sinning, who was that businessman that was in the room when I delivered that speaking engagement at the Rotary Club and he came and said I've set up many businesses, I'd be happy to set up your 501C3, which is what he did. He organized a lot of the administration aspects of it and got us on some sort of trajectory in terms of what we were going to look at in terms of fundraising and personnel and things like that. Now, as a dog trainer based in Northfield, I already had a facility and I also already had staff experienced staff and so it was really like a turnkey overnight process where we just said we're going to get together and do this and we're going to learn as much as we can about it. And so while John Sinning was handling all the administration, part of it, all of our registrations and all those things that you do in a new business, then we went to work on learning what our role needs to be and, similarly to the bomb dog training with the Marine Corps, there isn't a lot of difference between what a hunting dog does chasing pheasants or retrieving ducks than what that bomb dog does. It's just a different odor source in the end, a different target, and there are many similarities also between those types of training and service dog work.

Speaker 3:

So many of the things we were already capable of doing. There were just some other elements that, frankly, we just needed some experience on. So we had another gal from Northfield and she came in with some experienced training service dogs for Canadian Companions for Independence, which is the largest service dog training organization in the country, and so, as she came in, shared what she knew and then, hopefully, we shared what we knew with her. We came up with a program that is, that's effective and, like I say, now we're nine years into it. But without those people and without that early organization we would still be kind of flailing, I think, at this point. So, yeah, so is that kind of answering your question about the origin, or was there part missing there?

Speaker 1:

No, I hope that does. Thank you for that explanation. Just wanted to give some background for our listeners.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, and I kind of want to talk about your introduction to the military side of things when you were approached to do canine training for the military, what did that look like?

Speaker 3:

So well, first off I would say both my parents were in the Navy at the end of World War Two. They met in San Diego and eventually went to college on the GI Bill at Carleton College, located in Northfield, and they had 10 kids and they bought a farm and raised this all. And it's a great American story, you know, it really is. But for me, growing up hunting, I always wanted that hunting dog with me when I was hunting, because what there's nothing worse than to have a pheasant run away and you can't find it when it's got a broken wing. And so I used to borrow my neighbor's German Shepherd and I literally shot my first pheasant over a German Shepherd.

Speaker 2:

And that's awesome.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the dog didn't retrieve it, but it did find it for me and so I knew that.

Speaker 3:

As I, you know, I got older and hunting especially expanded so much for me that I really wanted to have my own dog.

Speaker 3:

But at the time I was going to college at that point, St Claude State University my roommate and I would run out to them and the last like wow, they'd management area and hunt, grouse, and so you know, but I didn't have a dog to pick them up.

Speaker 3:

And as soon as I got out of college I put a deposit on a puppy with Tom Doc and down in Northfield and and then I went back to Tom Doc and for some lessons, and so I read everything I could on training and practiced all these things on my new puppy. And then one day I was at a sports show and Tom asked me if I would consider coming to work for him, and so I did that. So I worked for Tom for four years and also started in the fall. There weren't many dogs to train, so I started guiding for hunting lodges out in South Dakota and, you know, and it was just a natural progression to start my own kennel after that. So remind me, Chris, what where we were going with this about how you got to got into training for military.

Speaker 3:

Got it, yeah so. So then in in 2009, I had a friend of mine who was actually already working for this company out in Southern Pines, north Carolina, and they were looking for trainers. They were looking for retriever trainers and so they recruited me. They called and said would you be interested in doing this? I said sounds very interesting, I'd like to learn more. And there were some delays at the beginning and finally, 2010, they pulled the trigger and said all right, come on out.

Speaker 3:

So with my wife's blessing I have a good wife, by the way of 28 years but with her blessing, I moved to Carthage, north Carolina, just north of Southern Pines. There and started training dogs and, like I said, I was a trainer. I could handle the volume. You know have 18 or 20 dogs on a trailer. I knew how to handle that kind of volume, the skills that they needed to learn in terms of quartering a field or quartering an area and running point to point, that is, running blind type retrieves. Those were right, you know, right in my wheelhouse. So that part was was, you know was not difficult.

Speaker 3:

But what that spiraled into or blossomed into was when they asked me if I would consider to go overseas and be deployed with the Marine Corps. That was a big day, I mean, obviously, and I told them, you know, I'm honored to do that and thankful that they would think of me in that regard and I wasn't just doing, you know, the humble pie thing, I mean, I was seriously struck in that way, and so I just tried to make sure that I was an asset to the unit, especially the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, going on a combat deployment. I, you know, I wanted to make sure I could, you know, handle my own gear, get myself around, make sure that I wasn't holding anybody up and wasn't in some way a distraction, and the same for the program. So we had 34 dogs with that battalion in country and we had 31 handlers. So we had three dogs that were replacement dogs for dogs that may be killed or injured, and and we did utilize one of those, but and then then the dogs were set up all over the AL, so we had, you know, five, five or six different operating forward, operating basis where they were, those 31 dogs were divided between.

Speaker 3:

But it all went back, you know, to the original phone call where, you know, hey, we, somebody brought your name up and we, you know, we wondering if you'd be considered doing this, and if you remember what 2008 and nine were like for the economy, you can probably get kind of a sense to what a big opportunity this was. So for a small business guy, I mean, sometimes I always say that people will spend more on what they want rather than what they need, but dog training was slow, travel was slow, so we didn't do a lot of boarding either at the canal, and so my receipts, my sales were down and it was just a, you know, a fortuitous blessing that I was able to, you know, to step up there.

Speaker 2:

So what did that conversation look like with your wife and family when that came up?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So I mean, I guess I would say that, you know, my wife and I do not have any children, so that was, you know, that was off the table. And, like I said, when I first started training dogs, there were no dogs to train in the fall because they all went hunting. And so, in order to earn some money and earn income and stay busy in the fall, I started working for these hunting lodges in the fall in South Dakota, and so I already had a little bit of a track record of, you know, disappearing for extended periods of time, but nothing like three years, you know, or you know, three plus years, and I, you know, I decided to get leave and I was able to get home on a few occasions, but yeah, I mean, it was.

Speaker 3:

It was obviously a big decision. I really, really wanted to do it. As soon as I learned about the program, I surprisingly found the, the what they called the IDD, the improvised, explosive, explosive device detection dog training manual. That was online. So I printed it off, put it in a book, read everything about it. So when I got there, I frankly I had more of a sense of what the program was than a lot of other people did, but again, it was in my wheelhouse, so it was not uncomfortable or or awkward in any way.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty interesting. That's so the bonds that have been built with the Marines when you went over there to obviously those are. You looted that earlier. You know you want to adopt them. So when you were overseas with them and embedded with them, essentially Were you going outside the wire and working with the dogs outside the wire with them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I was technically not allowed outside the wire, but we did get outside the wire and yeah, in fact, probably I don't know if it's the most important or not, but I would say definitely our largest find of the deployment was outside the wire. And so, yeah, it was a car bomb and we didn't see. We found a lot of fairly crude, homemade devices that were obviously still very dangerous, but we weren't seeing a lot of modern explosives. We weren't seeing a lot of remote controlled detonations. Things were homemade wooden pressure plates and pull strings and things that were available to the local people at the time to use to make explosives. And so, when we this was April 15th 2012,.

Speaker 3:

Of course I'll never forget the date, but yeah, so we had a car and the dog indicated on a car. Well, we always had bulletins about white Toyota Corolla and like, be on a lookout for a possible VA. You know V-Bid, pretty common vehicle, yeah right, and this was a white Toyota Corolla. But you know, we kind of took that with a grain of salt, because every day there was that kind of bulletin on that. Well, the dog hit on the car, got excited around it, just like it would around a wad of cat tails that's got a pheasant in it, gets excited, figures out exactly where it's located in the car and then lays down and stares at it.

Speaker 3:

And so we called the dog back and the handler's paying what we call paying the dog with this con and I'm like, what are you paying? What are you paying this dog for? Cause I didn't see him. I didn't see him go in there. And he said, well, he indicated on this car and I'm like, holy, you know what. And so then we sent in the second dog and the second dog also indicated in the exact same spot. And so we knew something was very shady about that car. And eventually you made it safe and they pulled it out into a dried river bed and detonated it. But there were a dozen Marines standing around it. I was standing around it, there's an eight or 10 Afghan national police standing around it. It would have been devastating had it gone off there. So that was a big, big day.

Speaker 2:

No, that's pretty incredible when you think about these creatures of God on earth that are able to help, work alongside you and be able to detect something that could potentially kill you all, and that's just amazing, and I'm glad there's individuals like yourself out there that have that knowledge and ability to be able to pass that training abilities on to these animals but also use them for a greater cause and good, so that's pretty awesome of you, yeah, and I was like you said.

Speaker 3:

I was very blessed because our battalion command took the asset seriously, implemented the program and utilized them in a way that some did not, and so I had a lot of support from the command in that regard, which made it easier for everyone.

Speaker 2:

Well, dogs are very integrated into our homeland security, you know. I mean you can't go to an airport without seeing them. Or you know several events that are housed, that are large scale events across the country, that you know we have canines that protecting our people, you know, and so why not have them over there? So why not have them overseas protecting our soldiers too? Right?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We'll return to the podcast in just a moment, but first, hometown hero outdoors would like to thank Relentless Defender for supporting our podcast. Founded in 2014 by a law enforcement officer, relentless Defender set out to design and sell clothing apparel that the police officers could wear with pride. Go to relentlessdefendercom to see their current inventory. Now back to our podcast.

Speaker 2:

So let's talk a little bit about your training team. I'm looking at your website right now, and so you got a robust crowd of people that are helping you volunteers, or yes, yeah, so we do have some.

Speaker 3:

So Northville Kennels you know my original business had this staff. We had skilled and experienced trainers and so they have run dogs at all the AKC performance event levels so junior, senior, master level and they train a lot of gun dogs. We fix a lot of problems, frankly, so we don't get in high caliber talent that we can then mold into some sort of winner.

Speaker 2:

We usually are getting in dogs.

Speaker 3:

GSP.

Speaker 2:

Dogs, pardon me, I can send you my GSP and we'll see if that works. Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Well, like I say, we're getting dogs off the street that usually have problems and so we're fixing those in the ways we know how. On the service dog side we have a very high standard. I wouldn't say to you, to your German short here is not very birdie, won't go in the water and has a problem. What I would do is I'd just try to level with you in terms of the limitations of your dog and say we're gonna do everything we can to pump them up and make sure their attitude's good and they're having fun, and then we're gonna try to get as much obedience and control to go along with that. But we're, you know, in the end of the day, if he's not steady on point, but he still finds the bird and he retrieves it for you, I mean, that's a pretty good outcome. On the other hand, if somebody's put so much pressure on him that he's afraid of the bird and blinks it or is repulsed by it, which happens sometimes or the dog won't retrieve, go to the bird and retrieve, well, that's not as good of an outcome. So it's always sort of a trade off. What can you get out of them? What do you have to sacrifice? Or in terms of lowering your standard. So with the service dogs there is no lowering of the standard.

Speaker 3:

If there's any reason that the dog is not suitable as a service animal, we will release them from the program, and so it's probably 30% of our dogs that we're doing that with for one reason or another. So maybe we were at the grocery store and the dog growled at a child, or maybe they have a barking compulsion that we cannot get in front of, or maybe there's a physical issue. They've got hips or eyes or elbows or something which are gonna be problematic for an owner. We don't wanna sock somebody with a golden doodle, with skin problems, because they're never gonna get over their skin problems. They're gonna have to maintain it and treat it their whole life and that's not what we wanna put them in that situation. So there are many of those dogs that 30% are totally adequate and acceptable family dogs and companion dogs, but they're not gonna get on an airplane and fly someplace or go to somebody's workplace every day and be that service animal.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, so we do have a percentage of dogs that we release because we have a high standard, but we're not gonna. We don't do trade offs, we don't do compromises. We don't. You know. We have a high standard and we stick to it, because these dogs are not being handled by somebody like myself who's a professional handler who can do a lot of things in a lot of different ways. These are fleas. Folks are just regular people and some have never owned a dog before. So as they are challenged with the handling responsibilities of the dog, they're gonna have to. You'll have something that's pretty malleable, something that's pretty easy to handle and cooperative. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1:

It does. Sam, can you walk us through the process you use to train these dogs? I mean, obviously I know it's a long process. It's very. It takes, you know, over a year. But can you give us an abbreviated version of what that process looks like?

Speaker 3:

Sure, yeah. The abbreviated version is that we'll take a puppy or a young dog whether we adopt that from a shelter or a rescue dog that we, you know, we're going to take the chance on, take a risk on and say we think this dog looks pretty darn good for what our program is, or a puppy that's donated to us. You know, we've had breeders all over donate puppies to us and they don't of course they don't all make it either but we'll take that puppy that's seven or eight or nine weeks old and we'll put it in a foster home. So for about six to eight months that puppy's going to be being potty, trained, started obedience and been around kids and going to lots of places, car rides and all the experiences that a young dog can be socialized into. And then at that point, maybe that nine to 11 month old young dog will come into the training center full time and that means and what full times means is that we train them five days a week and on the weekends their full time foster now becomes a weekend foster. So rather than sitting there and staring at the walls all weekend, they get picked up. On Friday they get to go home, be with the family that they already know, and they come back on Sunday night or Monday morning to start their training week again, and so that goes on for quite some time. That I mean that's, that's a, you know, close to a year right there. So now they're almost a year old. Now they're going to be in training for a year and now the dog is getting pretty close, 90% close to finished.

Speaker 3:

We're going to start selecting a veteran handler for that dog and typically what we do is match the dog to the person, that is, if somebody is maybe younger, high energy, wants to go hike the mountains, we're going to give them a dog, prepare them with a dog that is similarly, you know, with that disposition. And if we have a Vietnam veteran who's 75, and really needs more of some of the help embrace to steady him, to help him get up out of a chair, to retrieve, drop to items, things like that, and they need a quieter dog that's not going to pull on them ever, then we're going to select a dog that meets that criteria and match them up together so that it and I think you know, in nine years I think we've gotten it wrong twice. So I mean, our people are really good at pairing up those dogs with the veterans and so, and with the two that we didn't pair up appropriately, we repaired them with a different animal. That was successful, so, but it's all a learning process, right?

Speaker 3:

So there's a lot of basic skills, the same things, the same things your hunting dogs use. You know he'll sit, stay, come down, that kind of thing, go, stop and come. Essentially, go would be if I needed him to fetch something. I had to tell him to go over there and get my medicine bottle or my car keys or my phone that I dropped in the snow and can't find that. You know, the dog can hunt those things and retrieve. If I had. They just have to be obedient when I tell them to go. Do that and then also go, with an example of go would be like getting into the car, not when you feel like it, not not when you get around to it, but I mean you need to get in there now and so, again, those are all things that are applicable to both the hunter and hunting dog and the and, frankly, the bomb dog too, but also the service dog, certainly, and so the main thing that we're doing differently is customizing the service skills.

Speaker 3:

So if somebody maybe has a spinal injury and has some paralysis, we're going to train a dog that might need to pull a wheelchair or stop a wheelchair and certainly retrieve dropped items. Many other things push handicapped buttons to get into buildings, and so that's going to be specifically customed for that individual, just as it would for a more psychiatric geared patient, like like a post traumatic stress situation, military sexual trauma very prevalent, and so on the psychiatric side we're going to be teaching that dog to respond to two emotions a lot. So signs of sadness, signs of event of anxiousness, anxiety. As someone gets angry, their, their, the cadence of their voice may change, the pitch of it may change, certainly, the volume may change. They may emit an odor, a sweat type odor. So so it is based on the individual.

Speaker 3:

Some and everyone has different hobbies and they live in different situations. So if it's if the dogs in the living apartment versus live in a house versus live on acreage, and so all those things are taken into account when we're trying to customize that dog for that particular environment, and then their workplace would be the same. So some people are going to work in an office, maybe a building where they have to ride an elevator, some people may work in a warehouse where there's loud noises and machinery. So all those things are custom trained per individual. So that that's really the biggest way it differs.

Speaker 3:

And I guess you could say that with your hunting dog too. You know that if you're strictly a duck hunter or strictly a field trial or, for example, you're probably never going to upland hunt your dog because it kind of goes against what field trialers are doing, and so it might be similar that way where you would. You'd certainly. You know, if a Labrador points a bird, that might be sort of a bonus, but it's not really, you know, top on the list. The main thing is, will they get in that cold water and bring me my bird back so I don't have to? And so you know there are some parallels specifically for their task.

Speaker 1:

How many dogs have you trained so far?

Speaker 3:

We just placed our 62nd team, so that's a veteran and a dog team. That was this summer and we just had. We had a graduation just last month, also over in Chakapea, minnesota. But congratulations.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when you look at, when you look at the amount of time it takes you to train these dogs and you've been at, you know, for the years you've been doing this that's a lot of dogs in what? Nine years.

Speaker 3:

Right, nine years, yeah, and we didn't do any the first year, of course, and we only did one the second year. So so, yeah, we've, you know. But you know that's because it takes. It takes time to, you know, to do this. You can't just, it's not like a tool, you can bolt together and you have it ready. You know it's a, it takes time to do it.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, tell me about this, Tell me about the selection process. Then, for the veteran, yeah, how do you select who is eligible for this program?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good question. So the first thing that we do is we get an eligibility survey submitted to us. So on our website, under veterans, you can, you can choose eligibility survey. Takes about five minutes to fill it out, just, it's all the contact information and things that, so that we can, you know, communicate back and forth. And then we have to, of course, we have to determine that they're actually who they say they are and that they're actually a veteran.

Speaker 3:

So we we get a DD 214 copy and we have some very basic questions like do you, do you understand the responsibility of having a dog, do you know that there's going to be some, some expense in having a dog? And and do you agree to those things? And then, on the mental health side, we ask you know, are you engaged with the therapist or counselor and do you agree to continue to be engaged with your therapist and counselor? That's, that's about as simple as it gets right there. And then, once we get the eligibility survey, and then we will, as long as everything checks out in a satisfactory way which which we haven't had anyone try to, you know get by with it. Anything now up to this point, but we'll, then we'll send them the full, a full application, and that's a little more involved, as you might imagine.

Speaker 3:

So we're going to get letters of recommendation from their healthcare professionals. That can be the hardest thing because they don't respond to them. The healthcare professionals are difficult to get a hold of and difficult to get a response from, and these are typically VA health health care providers. We're going to get a list of their medications, the reasons for taking their medications, and get also get an idea of their living environment. So that, did they have a fenced yard? Do they, you know, do they actually have an appropriate place where they can keep a dog?

Speaker 3:

Once we have all that information back in, then we actually have a committee. We're very lucky I know other organizations that really are just flipping a coin frankly, and we have, we actually have a committee of healthcare professionals that are that are experienced in post traumatic stress counseling and the medical fields. So those folks then go through the applications and say we'd really like to look at these people. So the reasons that we would reject one or not pursue an applicant is usually because they either have an addiction issue or they haven't been through treatment for that addiction issue. And so you know, I certainly, as a dog trainer, I certainly can't determine who is serious about recovery and who is not, and so that's why we have those healthcare professionals that go through those things and know how to, how to read this, this kind of thing, so that we can get people in the door who we really want to have on our campus, that we can really help and and are appreciative of what we do.

Speaker 1:

I really appreciate that you do that. Yeah, if people want to help you, how can they do that? What can people do that maybe are not in the dog world? What can they do to support your organization?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I talked a little bit earlier about some of our employees. Their Norfolk Kennel's employees Believe it is just starting to get into a position where they can have their own employees, frankly. So most of the things that we do are volunteer. I'm a 100% volunteer. I don't get paid and the volunteers we could not do what we do without the volunteers. So in some regards they give us credibility because it brings the veterans out of the woodwork to a place in a beautiful rural setting where they feel comfortable and like they can trust the people around them. And then the veterans come in and help us. They appear at events and at speaking engagements, state fair, any number of things. They get involved in terms of fostering our puppies, finding other fosters for the puppies, transportation dog has to go to the vet or a veteran needs something someplace, and it's just a tremendous help.

Speaker 3:

And one thing I would say that people should know about us is that our program, our name, is Canine Service Partners.

Speaker 3:

It's really not about the dogs, frankly, it's about people.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, we do certainly do an awful lot with the dogs and they're the biggest part, and it's really about the people, about changing someone's life from being isolated to being free to living a more freedom-filled life, to doing the things that they used to do, that they thought they would never do again, like it could be simple as having a strong relationship, having children children maybe someday, having a job that is steady and that meets their needs. Maybe it's hunting okay, hunting and fishing. We have a lot of guys who and gals who used to do this with grandpa or with dad and they haven't done it since they were 12 or 14 years old and they really never thought they would do it again. But now that they have this dog, they think what would it take to get this dog gun broke, what would it take to get this dog on a few pigeons where he or she would know what's going on out there, and it'd be pretty fun to dream, be pretty fun to dream again and have hope about doing those things.

Speaker 1:

Is there somewhere people can donate to help you out?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, certainly on our website is a great way. They have give to the max days and all those kinds of things. But those organizations take a pretty good percentage of the donated amount. So, frankly, writing us a check or making a donation in another way, we've had people donate stock to us or host events for us. So, whether it's a dinner or some kind of musical, we've done plays and concerts and other types of speaking engagements and they've been to benefit us.

Speaker 3:

So why are you doing your garage sale this week? Well, we're doing it to benefit, believe it. But it helps us get out awareness of this issue, right, because Minnesota alone loses average two veterans a week to suicide. It's about 100 a year just in Minnesota, and so that awareness has to be out there. What we are doing. It absolutely affects the veterans who have been suicidal or have thought about being suicidal. We save lives. I mean, I can hardly get myself to say that because it just seems like I'm bragging, but if it motivates someone else to learn about what we do and to appreciate the issues involved here with veterans, then it's worth it. But, yeah, certainly donating on our website, hosting an event for us, even coming and helping us with one of our events, our golf tournament or spring gala or any of the other events that we do throughout the year Invite us to come talk to your groups, your businesses, your community groups, your churches, your schools. We've been in all these places and it just helps create the awareness of what we're doing and why we're doing it.

Speaker 3:

And, of course, the dogs are always a big hit. Yeah, I'll come in and they won't remember my name, but they'll remember my dog, taffy. But so, yeah, we definitely bring the dogs along. But those are the things that you know. We have a new building planned right now. We have a site which is right next door to our current training center for a 13,000 square foot training center with our own veterinary clinic, 109 dog capacity, and obviously it's a very big and expensive, you know, project. But those are our dreams. Everybody has to have audacious goals and so we intend to in some year probably not three years, maybe five, definitely 10, we're going to arrest that 100 veterans a year in Minnesota.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. No, that's a really good goal and just do you have a new good work and I really appreciate that. You know there's lots to be said about, like I said, the Canadian partners and our soldiers and our veterans, and what kind of bond that can create and help save these lives. So, no, I really appreciate everything you guys are doing, so it's a very good program and it's a cool part here in Minnesota, here, and so we're also in other states, but this is our home state. So, no, thank you, sam, for everything you're doing. Where are you today? Are you out in the hunting camp I am.

Speaker 3:

I'm in Gregory, South Dakota, in the beautiful, yeah, kind of butte country in the in the golden triangle or whatever they call it here. But yeah, so I'm out at Buffalo Butte Ranch in Gregory, South Dakota and it's been great, but we're going to get some cold weather coming up here quite soon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're not kidding. So no, thank you for taking time with us tonight, with you being on your hunting trip and everything since spectacular doing that. So our listeners want to get ahold of you or find you. How can they find you on social media website?

Speaker 3:

Yes, certainly Facebook. Certainly our website, wwwbelieveitorg. If you just search service dogs Minnesota, certainly service dogs for veterans Minnesota, it will come up. And yeah, certainly that way we also have. Yeah, I'm not big on social media because I'm over 50, but yeah, like I told Phil in the email, I still have an eight track tape stereo.

Speaker 1:

But I still got a record player. I'm over 52.

Speaker 3:

Yeah yeah, so we have, yeah, we. I don't know if we have Twitter, what we have, but I mean we're out there, we're not that hard to find anymore.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, no, thank you very much. I really appreciate you being here tonight. And do you have any final comments before we start wrapping up or coming up in an hour here?

Speaker 3:

This is the first podcast I've ever done or ever even maybe heard of, so I know it was easy, as it was easy, as can be, and the awareness of what we're doing is the real key. I mean, it'd be great to have a lot of money in the bank and build what we want to build and have that all buttoned up, but that's not how most places operate and we're certainly no different. The awareness if you know somebody, tell them. If you know, if you know somebody that can use our services, tell them. Tell them about us, because we are not far away and it's 100% free.

Speaker 3:

The only thing, the only thing the veteran is responsible for is getting themselves there, so there's no cost to the veteran for the for their service dog. Their skin in the game, frankly, is that they have to do 120 hours of team training, one on one with our trainers. It usually takes two to three months to knock out that 120 hours and then we'll, at that point you know you're really on your way. So, yeah, if you know somebody that can use our help, tell them about us, please.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah. Our listeners will definitely spread the word. Thank you very much, Phil. Do you have any final comments?

Speaker 1:

No, I just want to thank Sam again for coming on and being able to, like I said, share with our audience, because we do have a similar mission. We're all about saving people's lives, right? You know, it's about that number and regardless if it's the 22 a day across the country or if it's two a day, two a week in Minnesota, like you mentioned, it's too many. Your mission, for your organization, the mission of hometown hero outdoors, is the mental health awareness, like Chris says, keeping people on the planet. So I appreciate and we thank you for what you do.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thanks again, sam. I really appreciate you and for our listeners. We're at Believe it, the K9 training program that's based out of Northfield, minnesota, and we thank you for joining us tonight and for our listeners. In the event you find yourself in a dark place, there's a lot of people that are here for you. Like I talked about it in the podcast, there are people out there that believe in you and want you here.

Speaker 2:

But if you're feeling yourself in a dark time, our field staff are trained and applied suicide intervention skills training. It's a CIS program crisis intervention and we are here to listen. We have a list of individuals that engage or have been trained and assist, and please reach out to us on any social media emails. Whatever you can do to find us, please find us, but if you can't and you're having issues, you can call 988. Text, or call 988 for the crisis suicide prevention line. So we want you here. Find another day and be here for your loved ones in the future and enjoy your life. For today. That is all we have on the podcast. I want to thank we'll leave it to Sam Daly here for giving their time while he's out on a phenomenal pheasant hunting trip, and I appreciate everyone that joined us. Thank you, phil, and until next week we will see everyone on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. For more information, visit our website at hometownherooutdoorsorg.

People on this episode

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Christopher Tetrault

Host
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Phil Ewert

Producer