In May, 2006, Dogs for Disabled Americans/NEADS was the first service dog program in the country to be invited to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC to meet with our soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On August 17, 2006, they returned to Walter Reed to interview three candidates in the Occupational Therapy ward. All three of these valiant veterans had sustained combat-related injuries, and are now single or double amputees. And all three were accepted to receive walker balance/service dogs from NEADS' new Canines for Combat Veterans program.

These dually trained dogs will serve as: walker/balance dogs when these veterans are ambulatory and walking with their prosthetics - providing balance while walking, going up and down stairs, and getting up from a sitting or fallen position, and they  will act as service dogs when these veterans remove their prosthetics and transfer to a wheelchair - assisting them by picking up things that drop, retrieving items from a distance, pulling manual wheelchairs a short distance, turning lights on and off for them, etc.

Dog is truly a veteran’s best friend, too.

To learn more about this wonderful program, or to make a contribution to it, please visit the website listed below.