Smoky Mountain Service Dogs is a non-profit organization. It trains mobility assistance service dogs exclusively for wounded Veterans.
Each dog costs about $20,000 to grow and train. The group is pre-selling a new Tennessee Specialty License plate and need to obtain the required 1000 signatures.
There have been dozens of service dog placements. They use Lab retrievers and “goldens,” not shelter dogs and Suzy Kitchens, a co-founder explains why.
The dogs also help with veterans’ depression issues as they have to care for their battle buddy daily like walking them and getting them outdoors. Each dog knows about 30-45 commands!
No more shepherds used for service dogs since they are more known to do detection and police work and chase suspects. These dogs in the program are more family-friendly.
