Final report summary: Wounded Warriors Canada

Recipient: Wounded Warriors Canada
Project: PTSD Service Dog Program
Province: Ontario
Period: 01 April 2019 – 31 March 2024
Funding: $500,000

Overview:

Funding from the Veteran and Family Well-being Fund (VFWF) will help support the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Service Dog Program that trains and pairs ill and injured Veterans with PTSD Service Dogs. This includes establishing consistent and transparent national standards for all Wounded Warriors Canada PTSD Service Dogs.

Project Goals:

The main goals of this project included:

  • provide stability and expand capacity of the Service Dog Program in an effort to reduce existing waitlists;
  • reinforce the importance of ensuring that PTSD Service Dogs meet or exceed the published standards available in Canada; and
  • ensure that Veterans are paired with Service Dogs that meet the criteria for the Wounded Warrior Service Dogs Program nationally. 

Project Activities:

To achieve these goals, the project team completed the following activities:

  • formally adopted a core values statement to commit to the highest Service Dog standards in the country;  
  • adopted training manuals that apply to all programs related to the provision of Operational Stress Intervention Dogs (OSID) and PTSD Service Dogs; and
  • held two Service Dog conferences per year where providers gathered to compare best practices, develop training manuals and establish standards. 

Project Results:

Funding from the VFWF enabled Wounded Warriors Canada to expand access to the Service Dog Program by getting more certified PTSD Service Dogs into the hands of Veterans who need them, resulting in 258 Service Dogs being paired with Veterans. Wounded Warriors Canada, in conjunction with its partners, developed training manuals that will apply to the provision of PTSD Service Dogs as well as Operational Stress Intervention Service Dogs.  In addition, the organization formally adopted a core values statement that confirms a commitment to the highest standards in the country. This statement was ratified at a Wounded Warriors Service Dog Providers Conference in April, 2024.