November 12, 2025 • 20 mins
K9s For Warriors joins us with two furry friends to honor their mission: matching Veterans with service dogs! Plus, an emotional surprise for Froggy!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today's Daily Highlight from Elvis Duran in the Morning Show yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Of course, with Veterans Day, we have a firm belief
that every day should be Veterans Day, just saying, just saying,
you know, yesterday in Jacksonville, Froggy was that to this amazing,
amazing event for canines for warriors. You want to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, we raised one point two million dollars yesterday for
service animals for our veterans and had the chance to
talk to some veterans, had the chance to make some
puppy dog friends, which is always a good time. I
made the best friend with this service dog named Ben.
He just had this look in his eyes and he
crawled up in my lap, seventy eight pounds Golden Retriever,
(00:44):
and he just cuddled with me and I hugged his
little head in his face. He was so sweet. And
then to watch them work, and that's what they're doing
when they put the vests on. The animals are at work,
and when their warrior tells them make a friend, they
know that it's okay to be pet And it is
incredible to watch how smart these animals are and what
they do while the warder is speaking to us. The
animal gets kind of behind them and watches their six
(01:06):
as they call it, their blind side, because that's what
they're doing. They are working, and they are there to
help the veteran live their life that they have not
been able to because of things that have happened in
the military.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I learned a long time ago in the world of
dogs that dogs love many things. One thing, one thing
they really truly love is having a job. It's true.
I mean, you have dogs that are at airports running
birds off the runways to keep the planes from crash.
You have dogs sniffing, sniffing through all sorts of tragedy.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Looking for life on a farm, hurting everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Absolutely, absolutely, my dogs, my dogs have jobs. The Schnauzers,
they just crap on the floor. That's all they do. Oh,
mine has the same job. So walking in the room
right now is a User Force veteran Adam and his
dog Cooper. Come on over, guys, and a trainer from
Canine for Warriors. Hannah is here with Raven. Hi Raven.
(02:01):
Oh my god, we made friends. A thank you guys
for coming in. I do appreciate this.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Absolutely, We're so happy to be.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Here and We're just talking to Froggy who's in Jacksonville
now about there are a big Canine for Warriors event
in Jacksonville yesterday. It was pretty wild. I will read
you a couple of stats. Every single day in the US,
roughly twenty twenty veterans die by suicide, and at the
(02:29):
same time, every day in America, over one thousand dogs
are euthanized. Oh and you'd wonder, if you're just turning
us on right now, Well, what do these two have
in common? We're talking about veterans and dogs, absolutely so
knowing that there needs to be an end to veterans suicide,
Canines for Warriors is providing highly trained service dogs, many
(02:52):
of them rescues being saved themselves to military veterans nationwide
suffering from the wounds of war PTSD traumatic brain injuries,
military sexual trauma.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
The list goes on, as they call it, saving lives
at both ends of the leash. I just I love
that it's true. So, Adam, Adam, you were with US
Air Force how long?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Twelve years? Twelve years and when you got out you
got hit with PTSD hard. Yeah, right, just describe if
you want, like what happened about.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Eighteen months after I had come home, I started experiencing
all these different symptoms. Mostly started it started revolving around sleep, right,
and from there it snowballed into panic attacks. It's snowboled
into putting a lot of restrictions on myself because I
started getting nervous by going out in public, and you know,
(03:45):
that path led into a very dark, dark place where
I found myself on the verge of committing suicide.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Right.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
And I had gone to an event and there was
some of his dogs there. It was an NFL thing,
and I had gone over and asked the folks who
had their dogs, and I just asked them. I was like,
is it as great as they say? It's meeting dogs
helping people, right exactly? And it was a very short answer,
and it's like absolutely. And so I want to say
(04:17):
it's maybe a month later, after learning more about the foundation,
that I took the step and I applied, and quickly
after that I was approved. And that's when I guess
you can say that the healing really started beginning.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And it's a miracle how it happens, right, Absolutely, And
I've heard many different people in your position and close
to your position tried to describe how it worked, and
no one could really put it into words. How's there's
no way to describe it. In some ways, it just
trust me, it works absolutely.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
You know, become a team and you know that's two ways, right,
So we both have to look after each other, right
and and it just strengthens that bond so much.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Which in such an honor to have you here with Cooper.
Thank you. How long have you been with Cooper? Two
years almost to the day, right? Have you ever had
dogs before me you're growing up or yeah? Yeah, yeah,
but did you ever look at a dog at that
point in your life to be a healer in your life?
You just you always knew life was better with a
dog around, of course, without doubt. Of course, I can
be honest with I love each and every one of
you here. I'd rather be home with my dogs. No
(05:15):
offense yet, I'd dogs, yeah, Danielle.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So can you tell us a little bit about what
Cooper actually does for you?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Sure? Uh?
Speaker 6 (05:23):
So, Cooper is my lifeline. So we were able to
go out in public together. I don't have a lot
of those you know, those fears that inevitably cause a
lot more of those symptoms when you're in public, you know,
the fear of having a setback or a panic attack
in public, right, it after a while, it keeps you home.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
And so this was a way for me to start
get back and reclaiming a lot of those freedoms that
I had taken away from myself.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So Cooper looks after him. Yeah, I love that Cooper
sees things we don't see. Yeah. And so if Cooper
sees you getting all nervousness a situation or having anxiety,
Cooper rolls in and goes, okay, exactly?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Is it like like I watched on Instagram these dogs
that like if someone needs medication or the dog can
sense if someone's about to, you know, have a medical emergency,
and the dog like opens the door for them or
grabs their medication.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Right, if you don't see it,
but Cooper is wrapped around Adam's yeah ankles, Right, is
so cute? Cute?
Speaker 1 (06:19):
How how I know that? He says, please don't touch me,
I'm a service dog. How many people ignore that and
come touch the dog?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's it's unbelievable how many people just ignore it? And
she's off?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And then I was told I was allowed to make
a friend.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Yeah, you can put as many patches on a dog's
best as you want to. You, but there are people
just come by like who doggy cute?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
But how detrimental is that to the dog?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
She learns to be resilient to it, you know, more
more times than not.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
I pull her away right away, okay, And so yeah,
she she kind of is like, all right, well, you know,
let's move on that kind of.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Can I make a friend with Cooper later?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Sure? Okay, thanks for asking. You just here at a
zoo with wild tigers. You really should ask. It looks
like a friend is getting if you're just turning us on.
If you're just turning us on. We are talking about
Canines for Warriors and uh Adam of course is here
with his his his friend Cooper, and Hannah the trainer
is here with Rocky Raven and uh Canine for Warriors.
(07:23):
Elena is here too. Elena, what do you do with
Canins for Warriors?
Speaker 5 (07:26):
I am their public relations manager, so I recently started
last week. Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What an incredible organization to be. It's amazing And I
want to talk to Hannah about training these dogs in
a second, but there's something I've got to do. So, Froggy,
you were at the big event yesterday, right.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Correct, Yeah, where we raised one point two million dollars,
which I'm just I'm so proud of people that just
want to give back and help such an incredible organization.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
You were the one who said, by the way, Elvis,
you you have. You have contributed to two dogs being
trained and saved. You have, and you never named them.
I'm like, uh, those animals need names. Yes, we must,
we must, so we have to name at least one today.
If you have two names, we'd be great, But we
have one. So I mean I would choose a name
like Puddles or something stupid. We shouldn't use puddles. Hannah's
(08:15):
Puddles a bad name. Froggy. I want to show you something. Okay,
I'm gonna read this to you. There's a plaque here.
It says, we proudly bestow names upon two canine for warriors,
(08:40):
especially trained service dogs, so that they may now share
their love and healing with two of our nation's veterans. So,
in memory of Rocky and in honor of your dog Rex,
with love, two dogs named for canins for warriors. So
(09:03):
I don't know if any even know of it. Uh Rocky,
Rocky left, uh Froggy and Lisa not too long ago,
and I was thinking, all the work you do with
Canines for Warriors, what an incredible, incredible thing we could
do to name one Rocky and Rex, who's still alive
and doing great. We'll find it. We'll find a dog
(09:25):
for Rex as well. So congratulations. Oh my god, we
love you frogs.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Rocky bit everything. Does I know it's been one hundred
and one days since he loved us, and to do
this it is just oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well yeah, I know, thank you, I know, I know
Canines for Warriors you you brought them to us, and
now we understand the importance of this incredible organization and
people like Adam and Hannah and Elena and everyone at
the organization to be We're so honored to be to
be aligned with you and doing everything we can to
help out. And today we know it's it's it's not
(10:04):
a it's not an easy task to train these dogs, Hannah,
and to get them done, get them through the system.
It's expensive too. We would we would like to contribute
for two more dogs. Wow, oh wow, Okay, now remind okay,
remind me the price tag again. It is twenty five
thousand dollars. Her animals start to finish. Okay, well, service dog,
(10:27):
that one dog, that one dog's gonna be great, happy.
So we want to do we We definitely want to
contribute and get two more dogs in the system. We
want to save two dogs and save two veterans. Is
that okay with your guys? That is say? No, so
(10:48):
Raven is down here? Do you want to talk about Raven?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Absolutely so. Raven is one of our service dogs in training.
She is now Rocky.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Of course, we've named Raven Rocky. Do you want to do?
Speaker 4 (10:59):
You?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
She's so pretty frog?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Do you wanna do you want to see Raven? I
do want to see Raven. How do we do this?
I don't know. The camera you have to bring that
down here. This is gonna be kind of wild. You're
now seeing Rocky. This, this is Rocky.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Oh, she's so sweet, I'm telling you, and I always
say this, and everybody loves their dog. Rocky was the
greatest dog I ever had in my whole life, and
so for for that to be Rocky means everything to me.
And Rocky really Rocky would have been a great service dog. Rex, oh,
Rex not so much fabulous. So to be able to
(11:40):
carry on Rocky's name and know that he is going
to help someone means just you have no idea how
much that means. Wow, God, Lista is going to be
so thrilled.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Oh, it is such an honor Froggy. We are so
so happy to name her in honor of your dog.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Thank you so much. As I have a question.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, so she's been trained for a while and she's
been trained as Raven. So how to she transitioned now
to Rocky?
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Yeah, great question. So we do a game called name Wreck. Basically,
it's a lot of back and forth. There's a lot
of treats involved. You use their new name as they
are coming towards you. You reinforce that, and then you
kind of move into a different type of focus game
where you say their name. If they look up at you,
you say our marker, which is called yes, and then
you reinforce with a treat. Usually with most dogs, it's
(12:23):
within a couple of days they'll pick up on it
because you know, they of course love the cookies. That
makes it much easier, and you know, for the dogs
that struggle a little bit more with it. It's really
only up to just a couple of weeks. So we
like to sponsor them about two months or so before
they go to class, so we make sure we have
enough time to really set that name in. You know,
(12:44):
we send you, guys, lots of sponsor updates, so you'll
hear from Raven, you'll get some photos from us.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Wow, So his name is Scary, that's his name. I've
never been crazy about it. If we got a Hamburger,
you can start training. Can't we just name him Carl.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't think it would take much for him.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So I mean, so, Hannah, here's pie. That'll work. So
Hannah working with these dogs, do you also work with
the veterans as well to line them? For instance? Adam,
I mean, what was it a lot of work to
really get to know Cooper and understand how to drive Cooper?
I don't know. Yeah, I mean the instruction manual must
be thick, oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
But they prepare you. They do a very good job
of preparing you for what's to come. Excuse me.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
You know, once you get off that bus, right and
it's just you and the dog, you know, that's when
the bonding really really starts. You know, they bring for
three weeks, they bring you down there and they introduce you,
and there was a really intense bonding process every day,
multiple hours, eight hours a day. You're just and you
always have the dog attached to you no matter where
you are. You know, this is a lot of work
(13:56):
for everyone, it is, including the dog, and just naturally
over time, as you guys become more and more of
a team, the bond just grows. You start feeding off
each other, reading each other.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Wow. It's insanely fascinating. I mean, the science behind it,
but it's really the science is a warmth and I love.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, what's the process for someone actually getting a dog?
If somebody feels like they need one right now, how
do they get into this program?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
Well, you start by going onto Knine fourriers dot org
and that's where you'll have your your application process. It
didn't take very long for them to get back to
me with mine, So yeah, that's that's the first step.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Okay, how many dogs have you trained?
Speaker 5 (14:37):
I am on number I believe thirty two?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Wow?
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Yeah, how many do you keep?
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Though?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
I want to take all of them home? It's really
that's one of the toughest parts is having to give
them up. You definitely give a little piece of your
heart with every dog, but it is so incredibly worth it.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Well, were there any that you were like, yeah, this
one may have to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Them right now? I'm sure there are people. Absolutely, you're
still great dogs, which is not for this job. See,
you just said something, Hannah, and I'm sure Adam will
agree and Froggy as well. You guys too, you just
said a little piece of your heart goes with them.
That has to be a major part of this training process.
It's not just you know, if light's green, you'd walk,
(15:21):
if light's red, you stop. No, no, no, You're talking
about human beings, emotions, breathing, living people and the connection
with a dog that's going to save them and they're
going to save each other. That must be an amazing,
amazing day at the office for you.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
It is.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
It is so incredible, And the amount of effort we
put into properly pairing these dogs with our veterans is immense.
I mean, they go through the application process and they
send us their profile, so they give us everything about
their life when they come into the campus that we
have for them to come stay at we do another
interview process with them, so we get to talk to
(15:59):
them one on one, basically asking any questions of has
anything changed in your life? What are your goals with
your service dog? You know, obviously each dog has their
own personality, has their own strengths and weaknesses, So we
want to make sure that we are pairing the dog
best with the warrior that is going to suit their lifestyle.
So I think that that is really really important and
(16:19):
that bond just comes so much quicker with that amount
of effort. And if I may, I'll explain some science
behind it.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes, please do so if you notice.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
You started tearing up a little bit, Miss Raven wanted
to go say hi to you. So the science behind
a service dog is our cortisol levels are our stress hormones.
They can actually smell the changes and those levels. So
in a PTSD episode or an anxiety attack, when our
warriors are in public, their cortisol levels shoot through the roof.
When that happens, the dog actually smells it, so they'll
(16:50):
immediately go into action. And a lot of the time,
you know, once they've been graduated and we're atom is
right now with Cooper, they really start to get to
know their warrior and what they need. So if they're
shopping at a grocery store and they feel that cortiso
level will go up and you know, the person is
standing up. They're shopping at an aisle, They're going to
put themselves into a look queue, which they will sit
(17:11):
on the opposite side here and watch their warriors back.
If they are sitting down somewhere and they are starting
to feel like that, they will instantly put themselves into
my lap. That is our pressure therapy queue. It works
similar to a weighted blanket, so they'll put all of
their weight with their forearms onto your lap and it
helps bring our warriors back to the present moment.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Right, and it just happens. Yeah, you made it. You
don't even know that you're you're entering a danger zone,
but the dog does. She HER's in right. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
There's been a couple of times where she's literally just
pulled me out of a room, you know, I mean
literally just you're coming with me and I'm in charge
for the moment.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Hannah, can you treat to teach people to do this?
I guess that's why Rocky was so nice to me,
because I work with you people, I'm allls stressed. Well,
this is amazing. Now there are several things I want
you to know you can donate. Look, you know we
rolled it out and we're now going to contribute for
two dogs to get in there and get working. You
(18:11):
can do whatever you can. If you go to Knine
for Warriors. What's the website, Elena, it's you kin Warriors dot.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Org, Kines for Warriors dot work.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
There you go, Knines. It's a K and A nine
in an S. Yes, so Knines does not c A.
It's K and K nine S four warriors dot org.
Thank you. Donate whatever you can and there's also places
on that website if you know someone or if you
want to look further into this, it's right there for
(18:41):
you and they'll call you back and talk to you
about it. This is incredible, amazing. I'm so happy you
came in. No, yes, Adam, what's up.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I just wanted to take a moment and say, on
behalf of over the one thousand veterans that have made
it through this program. I just want to thank you
from the bottom of my heart and sp for all
of them and your continued support.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's just it's just so wonderful and we're just so grateful.
We have many veterans and many dogs we need to
get to so let's get work and listen. We love
you guys, and you always have a home with us here.
Thank you so much. Any more questions.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
That was so emotion I felt.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
This is so emotional. Sorry about that, Robby. Are you good? Frog?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, I'm all good. Elvis, thank you. I can't wait
to go down to the facility and meet Rocky.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I can't. I cannot wait. That's right, Rocky is going
to Jackson ree me.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Yeah, she's so excited to meet you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I can't wait. That's that's crazy. The whole thing is
just mind blowingly fantastic. Thank you. All these things in
the world that disappoint us, it's so great to come
across something that feeds our souls. And this is again
cane Ies for Warriors K nine s Canines for Warriors
dot org. Just go there now. All your questions will
(19:49):
be answered, And thank you guys for coming in. Thank
you for absolutely thank you, Hey, Cooper, Rocky, thank you,
thank you. They're so happy. The rooms like meat
Today's Daily Highlight from Elvis Duran in the Morning Show yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Of course, with Veterans Day, we have a firm belief
that every day should be Veterans Day, just saying, just saying,
you know, yesterday in Jacksonville, Froggy was that to this amazing,
amazing event for canines for warriors. You want to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, we raised one point two million dollars yesterday for
service animals for our veterans and had the chance to
talk to some veterans, had the chance to make some
puppy dog friends, which is always a good time. I
made the best friend with this service dog named Ben.
He just had this look in his eyes and he
crawled up in my lap, seventy eight pounds Golden Retriever,
(00:44):
and he just cuddled with me and I hugged his
little head in his face. He was so sweet. And
then to watch them work, and that's what they're doing
when they put the vests on. The animals are at work,
and when their warrior tells them make a friend, they
know that it's okay to be pet And it is
incredible to watch how smart these animals are and what
they do while the warder is speaking to us. The
animal gets kind of behind them and watches their six
(01:06):
as they call it, their blind side, because that's what
they're doing. They are working, and they are there to
help the veteran live their life that they have not
been able to because of things that have happened in
the military.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I learned a long time ago in the world of
dogs that dogs love many things. One thing, one thing
they really truly love is having a job. It's true.
I mean, you have dogs that are at airports running
birds off the runways to keep the planes from crash.
You have dogs sniffing, sniffing through all sorts of tragedy.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Looking for life on a farm, hurting everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Absolutely, absolutely, my dogs, my dogs have jobs. The Schnauzers,
they just crap on the floor. That's all they do. Oh,
mine has the same job. So walking in the room
right now is a User Force veteran Adam and his
dog Cooper. Come on over, guys, and a trainer from
Canine for Warriors. Hannah is here with Raven. Hi Raven.
(02:01):
Oh my god, we made friends. A thank you guys
for coming in. I do appreciate this.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Absolutely, We're so happy to be.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Here and We're just talking to Froggy who's in Jacksonville
now about there are a big Canine for Warriors event
in Jacksonville yesterday. It was pretty wild. I will read
you a couple of stats. Every single day in the US,
roughly twenty twenty veterans die by suicide, and at the
(02:29):
same time, every day in America, over one thousand dogs
are euthanized. Oh and you'd wonder, if you're just turning
us on right now, Well, what do these two have
in common? We're talking about veterans and dogs, absolutely so
knowing that there needs to be an end to veterans suicide,
Canines for Warriors is providing highly trained service dogs, many
(02:52):
of them rescues being saved themselves to military veterans nationwide
suffering from the wounds of war PTSD traumatic brain injuries,
military sexual trauma.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
The list goes on, as they call it, saving lives
at both ends of the leash. I just I love
that it's true. So, Adam, Adam, you were with US
Air Force how long?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Twelve years? Twelve years and when you got out you
got hit with PTSD hard. Yeah, right, just describe if
you want, like what happened about.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Eighteen months after I had come home, I started experiencing
all these different symptoms. Mostly started it started revolving around sleep, right,
and from there it snowballed into panic attacks. It's snowboled
into putting a lot of restrictions on myself because I
started getting nervous by going out in public, and you know,
(03:45):
that path led into a very dark, dark place where
I found myself on the verge of committing suicide.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Right.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
And I had gone to an event and there was
some of his dogs there. It was an NFL thing,
and I had gone over and asked the folks who
had their dogs, and I just asked them. I was like,
is it as great as they say? It's meeting dogs
helping people, right exactly? And it was a very short answer,
and it's like absolutely. And so I want to say
(04:17):
it's maybe a month later, after learning more about the foundation,
that I took the step and I applied, and quickly
after that I was approved. And that's when I guess
you can say that the healing really started beginning.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And it's a miracle how it happens, right, Absolutely, And
I've heard many different people in your position and close
to your position tried to describe how it worked, and
no one could really put it into words. How's there's
no way to describe it. In some ways, it just
trust me, it works absolutely.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
You know, become a team and you know that's two ways, right,
So we both have to look after each other, right
and and it just strengthens that bond so much.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Which in such an honor to have you here with Cooper.
Thank you. How long have you been with Cooper? Two
years almost to the day, right? Have you ever had
dogs before me you're growing up or yeah? Yeah, yeah,
but did you ever look at a dog at that
point in your life to be a healer in your life?
You just you always knew life was better with a
dog around, of course, without doubt. Of course, I can
be honest with I love each and every one of
you here. I'd rather be home with my dogs. No
(05:15):
offense yet, I'd dogs, yeah, Danielle.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So can you tell us a little bit about what
Cooper actually does for you?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Sure? Uh?
Speaker 6 (05:23):
So, Cooper is my lifeline. So we were able to
go out in public together. I don't have a lot
of those you know, those fears that inevitably cause a
lot more of those symptoms when you're in public, you know,
the fear of having a setback or a panic attack
in public, right, it after a while, it keeps you home.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
And so this was a way for me to start
get back and reclaiming a lot of those freedoms that
I had taken away from myself.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So Cooper looks after him. Yeah, I love that Cooper
sees things we don't see. Yeah. And so if Cooper
sees you getting all nervousness a situation or having anxiety,
Cooper rolls in and goes, okay, exactly?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Is it like like I watched on Instagram these dogs
that like if someone needs medication or the dog can
sense if someone's about to, you know, have a medical emergency,
and the dog like opens the door for them or
grabs their medication.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Right, if you don't see it,
but Cooper is wrapped around Adam's yeah ankles, Right, is
so cute? Cute?
Speaker 1 (06:19):
How how I know that? He says, please don't touch me,
I'm a service dog. How many people ignore that and
come touch the dog?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's it's unbelievable how many people just ignore it? And
she's off?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And then I was told I was allowed to make
a friend.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Yeah, you can put as many patches on a dog's
best as you want to. You, but there are people
just come by like who doggy cute?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
But how detrimental is that to the dog?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
She learns to be resilient to it, you know, more
more times than not.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
I pull her away right away, okay, And so yeah,
she she kind of is like, all right, well, you know,
let's move on that kind of.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Can I make a friend with Cooper later?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Sure? Okay, thanks for asking. You just here at a
zoo with wild tigers. You really should ask. It looks
like a friend is getting if you're just turning us on.
If you're just turning us on. We are talking about
Canines for Warriors and uh Adam of course is here
with his his his friend Cooper, and Hannah the trainer
is here with Rocky Raven and uh Canine for Warriors.
(07:23):
Elena is here too. Elena, what do you do with
Canins for Warriors?
Speaker 5 (07:26):
I am their public relations manager, so I recently started
last week. Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What an incredible organization to be. It's amazing And I
want to talk to Hannah about training these dogs in
a second, but there's something I've got to do. So, Froggy,
you were at the big event yesterday, right.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Correct, Yeah, where we raised one point two million dollars,
which I'm just I'm so proud of people that just
want to give back and help such an incredible organization.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
You were the one who said, by the way, Elvis,
you you have. You have contributed to two dogs being
trained and saved. You have, and you never named them.
I'm like, uh, those animals need names. Yes, we must,
we must, so we have to name at least one today.
If you have two names, we'd be great, But we
have one. So I mean I would choose a name
like Puddles or something stupid. We shouldn't use puddles. Hannah's
(08:15):
Puddles a bad name. Froggy. I want to show you something. Okay,
I'm gonna read this to you. There's a plaque here.
It says, we proudly bestow names upon two canine for warriors,
(08:40):
especially trained service dogs, so that they may now share
their love and healing with two of our nation's veterans. So,
in memory of Rocky and in honor of your dog Rex,
with love, two dogs named for canins for warriors. So
(09:03):
I don't know if any even know of it. Uh Rocky,
Rocky left, uh Froggy and Lisa not too long ago,
and I was thinking, all the work you do with
Canines for Warriors, what an incredible, incredible thing we could
do to name one Rocky and Rex, who's still alive
and doing great. We'll find it. We'll find a dog
(09:25):
for Rex as well. So congratulations. Oh my god, we
love you frogs.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Rocky bit everything. Does I know it's been one hundred
and one days since he loved us, and to do
this it is just oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well yeah, I know, thank you, I know, I know
Canines for Warriors you you brought them to us, and
now we understand the importance of this incredible organization and
people like Adam and Hannah and Elena and everyone at
the organization to be We're so honored to be to
be aligned with you and doing everything we can to
help out. And today we know it's it's it's not
(10:04):
a it's not an easy task to train these dogs, Hannah,
and to get them done, get them through the system.
It's expensive too. We would we would like to contribute
for two more dogs. Wow, oh wow, Okay, now remind okay,
remind me the price tag again. It is twenty five
thousand dollars. Her animals start to finish. Okay, well, service dog,
(10:27):
that one dog, that one dog's gonna be great, happy.
So we want to do we We definitely want to
contribute and get two more dogs in the system. We
want to save two dogs and save two veterans. Is
that okay with your guys? That is say? No, so
(10:48):
Raven is down here? Do you want to talk about Raven?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Absolutely so. Raven is one of our service dogs in training.
She is now Rocky.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Of course, we've named Raven Rocky. Do you want to do?
Speaker 4 (10:59):
You?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
She's so pretty frog?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Do you wanna do you want to see Raven? I
do want to see Raven. How do we do this?
I don't know. The camera you have to bring that
down here. This is gonna be kind of wild. You're
now seeing Rocky. This, this is Rocky.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Oh, she's so sweet, I'm telling you, and I always
say this, and everybody loves their dog. Rocky was the
greatest dog I ever had in my whole life, and
so for for that to be Rocky means everything to me.
And Rocky really Rocky would have been a great service dog. Rex, oh,
Rex not so much fabulous. So to be able to
(11:40):
carry on Rocky's name and know that he is going
to help someone means just you have no idea how
much that means. Wow, God, Lista is going to be
so thrilled.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Oh, it is such an honor Froggy. We are so
so happy to name her in honor of your dog.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Thank you so much. As I have a question.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, so she's been trained for a while and she's
been trained as Raven. So how to she transitioned now
to Rocky?
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Yeah, great question. So we do a game called name Wreck. Basically,
it's a lot of back and forth. There's a lot
of treats involved. You use their new name as they
are coming towards you. You reinforce that, and then you
kind of move into a different type of focus game
where you say their name. If they look up at you,
you say our marker, which is called yes, and then
you reinforce with a treat. Usually with most dogs, it's
(12:23):
within a couple of days they'll pick up on it
because you know, they of course love the cookies. That
makes it much easier, and you know, for the dogs
that struggle a little bit more with it. It's really
only up to just a couple of weeks. So we
like to sponsor them about two months or so before
they go to class, so we make sure we have
enough time to really set that name in. You know,
(12:44):
we send you, guys, lots of sponsor updates, so you'll
hear from Raven, you'll get some photos from us.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Wow, So his name is Scary, that's his name. I've
never been crazy about it. If we got a Hamburger,
you can start training. Can't we just name him Carl.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't think it would take much for him.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So I mean, so, Hannah, here's pie. That'll work. So
Hannah working with these dogs, do you also work with
the veterans as well to line them? For instance? Adam,
I mean, what was it a lot of work to
really get to know Cooper and understand how to drive Cooper?
I don't know. Yeah, I mean the instruction manual must
be thick, oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
But they prepare you. They do a very good job
of preparing you for what's to come. Excuse me.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
You know, once you get off that bus, right and
it's just you and the dog, you know, that's when
the bonding really really starts. You know, they bring for
three weeks, they bring you down there and they introduce you,
and there was a really intense bonding process every day,
multiple hours, eight hours a day. You're just and you
always have the dog attached to you no matter where
you are. You know, this is a lot of work
(13:56):
for everyone, it is, including the dog, and just naturally
over time, as you guys become more and more of
a team, the bond just grows. You start feeding off
each other, reading each other.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Wow. It's insanely fascinating. I mean, the science behind it,
but it's really the science is a warmth and I love.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, what's the process for someone actually getting a dog?
If somebody feels like they need one right now, how
do they get into this program?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
Well, you start by going onto Knine fourriers dot org
and that's where you'll have your your application process. It
didn't take very long for them to get back to
me with mine, So yeah, that's that's the first step.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Okay, how many dogs have you trained?
Speaker 5 (14:37):
I am on number I believe thirty two?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Wow?
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Yeah, how many do you keep?
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Though?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
I want to take all of them home? It's really
that's one of the toughest parts is having to give
them up. You definitely give a little piece of your
heart with every dog, but it is so incredibly worth it.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Well, were there any that you were like, yeah, this
one may have to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Them right now? I'm sure there are people. Absolutely, you're
still great dogs, which is not for this job. See,
you just said something, Hannah, and I'm sure Adam will
agree and Froggy as well. You guys too, you just
said a little piece of your heart goes with them.
That has to be a major part of this training process.
It's not just you know, if light's green, you'd walk,
(15:21):
if light's red, you stop. No, no, no, You're talking
about human beings, emotions, breathing, living people and the connection
with a dog that's going to save them and they're
going to save each other. That must be an amazing,
amazing day at the office for you.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
It is.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
It is so incredible, And the amount of effort we
put into properly pairing these dogs with our veterans is immense.
I mean, they go through the application process and they
send us their profile, so they give us everything about
their life when they come into the campus that we
have for them to come stay at we do another
interview process with them, so we get to talk to
(15:59):
them one on one, basically asking any questions of has
anything changed in your life? What are your goals with
your service dog? You know, obviously each dog has their
own personality, has their own strengths and weaknesses, So we
want to make sure that we are pairing the dog
best with the warrior that is going to suit their lifestyle.
So I think that that is really really important and
(16:19):
that bond just comes so much quicker with that amount
of effort. And if I may, I'll explain some science
behind it.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes, please do so if you notice.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
You started tearing up a little bit, Miss Raven wanted
to go say hi to you. So the science behind
a service dog is our cortisol levels are our stress hormones.
They can actually smell the changes and those levels. So
in a PTSD episode or an anxiety attack, when our
warriors are in public, their cortisol levels shoot through the roof.
When that happens, the dog actually smells it, so they'll
(16:50):
immediately go into action. And a lot of the time,
you know, once they've been graduated and we're atom is
right now with Cooper, they really start to get to
know their warrior and what they need. So if they're
shopping at a grocery store and they feel that cortiso
level will go up and you know, the person is
standing up. They're shopping at an aisle, They're going to
put themselves into a look queue, which they will sit
(17:11):
on the opposite side here and watch their warriors back.
If they are sitting down somewhere and they are starting
to feel like that, they will instantly put themselves into
my lap. That is our pressure therapy queue. It works
similar to a weighted blanket, so they'll put all of
their weight with their forearms onto your lap and it
helps bring our warriors back to the present moment.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Right, and it just happens. Yeah, you made it. You
don't even know that you're you're entering a danger zone,
but the dog does. She HER's in right. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
There's been a couple of times where she's literally just
pulled me out of a room, you know, I mean
literally just you're coming with me and I'm in charge
for the moment.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Hannah, can you treat to teach people to do this?
I guess that's why Rocky was so nice to me,
because I work with you people, I'm allls stressed. Well,
this is amazing. Now there are several things I want
you to know you can donate. Look, you know we
rolled it out and we're now going to contribute for
two dogs to get in there and get working. You
(18:11):
can do whatever you can. If you go to Knine
for Warriors. What's the website, Elena, it's you kin Warriors dot.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Org, Kines for Warriors dot work.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
There you go, Knines. It's a K and A nine
in an S. Yes, so Knines does not c A.
It's K and K nine S four warriors dot org.
Thank you. Donate whatever you can and there's also places
on that website if you know someone or if you
want to look further into this, it's right there for
(18:41):
you and they'll call you back and talk to you
about it. This is incredible, amazing. I'm so happy you
came in. No, yes, Adam, what's up.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I just wanted to take a moment and say, on
behalf of over the one thousand veterans that have made
it through this program. I just want to thank you
from the bottom of my heart and sp for all
of them and your continued support.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's just it's just so wonderful and we're just so grateful.
We have many veterans and many dogs we need to
get to so let's get work and listen. We love
you guys, and you always have a home with us here.
Thank you so much. Any more questions.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
That was so emotion I felt.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
This is so emotional. Sorry about that, Robby. Are you good? Frog?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, I'm all good. Elvis, thank you. I can't wait
to go down to the facility and meet Rocky.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I can't. I cannot wait. That's right, Rocky is going
to Jackson ree me.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Yeah, she's so excited to meet you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I can't wait. That's that's crazy. The whole thing is
just mind blowingly fantastic. Thank you. All these things in
the world that disappoint us, it's so great to come
across something that feeds our souls. And this is again
cane Ies for Warriors K nine s Canines for Warriors
dot org. Just go there now. All your questions will
(19:49):
be answered, And thank you guys for coming in. Thank
you for absolutely thank you, Hey, Cooper, Rocky, thank you,
thank you. They're so happy. The rooms like meat
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