helping heroes North American canines a
veteran run organization and it's
dedicated to providing highly skilled
working dogs and service dog equipment
to those whose lives depend on them
the dogs help those with post-traumatic
stress disorder in an effort to give
heroes a chance at getting back to a
normal life as quickly as possible this
could include those who served in the
military first responders law
enforcement battered women and children
later this year North American canine
will be featured in a 12 episode series
on the Discovery Network so joining us
now here on the morning show North
American canines mission is regional
manager Tara Embry and her dog
Freya like the biking yes yes her name
does come from the Vikings and she's a
wonderful dog she does great work for me
she really helps support myself and our
mission and she's she's a great dog to
have around would you talk about the
fact that the dogs that are trained
they're actually rescues themselves so
this is a two-way street for the pups oh
absolutely
yes we go into shelters kill shelters
overcrowded shelters all over all over
the United States actually to find our
dogs so that we can train them for our
veteran community no we talked about the
fact you know that the dogs are
available to people with PTSD but you've
got law enforcement officers and first
responders who experience things that
causes you know an emotional trauma in
their lives battered women and children
and you know these dogs can become the
in your case they're everything yeah
also yes well you need a lot of support
that sometimes you just can't get from a
human and we are changing lives one dog
at a time right now and with Freya I get
a lot of anxiety especially in crowded
areas things like that but she's always
with me she's by my side and I know she
has my back and we provide that to all
veterans that come into our organization
and like you said we work with police
officers battered women because just
because something's traumatic to me or
something's traumatic to you that
doesn't mean it's traumatic to somebody
else it's an individual thing so we
actually train our dogs for the
individual it's not a blanket program we
are training for you specifically so so
in your case Freya becomes a calming
force yes so yes confuse sensory anxiety
heightening absolutely even though she
is a young dog
right now she knows what I'm nervous she
knows as you can see I mean it's not
every day I'm on TV and she's right by
me she's calm cool collected even though
she's a puppy and a Belgian Malinois
which are known to be kind of hyper dogs
and you can see she's just right here by
me just supporting me now and beside
just her virtual presence what is it
about her that calms you down really
it's just her her demeanor she knows me
I know her and it gives me a sense of
purpose again this dog needs me as much
as I need her and so I'm able to work
with her and give myself more purpose in
life so you feed off each other's spirit
oh absolutely
yes and what's really wonderful is our
program is taking dogs the national
average right now for a service dog is
$30,000 so you're telling me that
somebody who is already in mental
physical emotional distress now you want
them to pay thirty thousand dollars for
a dog that can change their lives we've
knocked that down we have blown that out
of the water we are going to charge
often with no cost to the veteran $3,000
our dogs are in and out the door within
weeks trained specifically for that
veteran or person in need and face it
you know sometimes all a service dog or
any pet really wants is some love hugs
and attention so you don't get any lift
from them you you don't they don't judge
you they don't there's notes she doesn't
mind that sometimes I'm sad she doesn't
mind that sometimes I'm a little crazy
and that's okay she's like okay she's
just going through this I'm just gonna
be here yeah they know if people you
know want more information about the
program and they were like you know
maybe this can help me where do they go
log on to our website we can get you in
contact with local trainers we can get
you in contact with myself we're really
here to support and help whoever wants
to talk to us if you just need
information get a hold of us we will
reach out and we will do what we can and
the big thing too is we do have that
12-episode show coming up on the
Discovery Network at the end of the year
where we're going to be able to show
others how to train dogs for veterans
oh it's not something we're not keep
you'll see you'll see the pups in action
yeah and we're not keeping this
information for ourselves we're sharing
the news I'll tell you what we're gonna
post this link on the morning show page
of news for Jax calm and make it easy
for you thanks for being appreciated oh
my