JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Though Wednesday is Veterans Day, many local groups help our veterans year-round. One of those groups is K9s for Warriors.
Action News Jax reporter Alicia Tarancon spoke with Damian Jungermann, a Navy veteran who was paired with service dogs.
He returned home after three deployments to Afghanistan and dealt with PTSD and depression.
It was his service dog that helped him through it all.
Jungermann heard from a friend that service dogs could help him get better sleep which was a problem he was experiencing.
He started to look into different organizations and found K9s for Warriors.
The Ponte Vedra organization pairs rescue dogs with veterans. In 2019, he was paired with Shai.
Three weeks were spent training before the two headed back to New York where Jungermann lived.
Before, Jungermann wanted to stay in his apartment and away from people. Now with his service dog, Jungermann has learned to open up again, heal and get back to nature.
“He just really got me back to going, kind of adventuring out in the woods ,do a lot of things that I was told to do that would help me, that I refused to do, and having a dog is forcing you to do that, having him especially has forced me to do that,” Jungermann said.
Jungermann is now a trainer for K9s for Warriors. There he helps train other service dogs and helps the veterans that are paired with them.
To date, the Petco Foundation has invested $2.3 million in K9s For Warriors to help more shelter pets transform to service dogs to help our nation’s veterans. Investments like these are made possible through the Petco Foundation’s annual Helping Heroes campaign, which supports shelter pets that dedicate their lives to saving and improving the lives of others.
Donate at checkout at Petco to help support the life-changing work of helping heroes who assist our nation’s veterans, first responders or others in need. Since 2012, these donations have helped the Petco Foundation invest more than $15 million to support the life-changing work of helping heroes.
For more information regarding the organization, click here.
Cox Media Group
