Dedicated to the memory of former Marines Jaret “JW” Elrage and Chad “Stitch” Wheeler – you are very missed…
Jaret was born March 3, 1991 and left us to guard the gates on June 9, 2024.
Jaret was my friend’s son, my oldest son’s best friend and like a nephew to me.
He was a Marine like us.
Chad was born February 27, 1981 and left us to guard the gates on August 10, 2024.
Chad was Mike’s best friend, my dear friend, a husband, and a father.
He was a Marine like us.
https://www.va.gov/health-care/health-needs-conditions/mental-health/ptsd/
https://www.hopeline-nc.org/
https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
Call 988 if you are having suicidal thoughts.
In the span of one year two members of our military family took their own lives. It was a shock, a huge loss, and while we all deal with these things differently Mike and I needed to put our grief into action. I can’t imagine how much hurt the others who knew and loved them are in, I can only deal with my own sense of loss and try to help Mike through his loss too. I just know that I had to do something to honor these two men. When I told Mike about my idea he was immediately on board. Our goal in placing German Shepherds with PTSD vets is to give light, hope, and friendship to veterans who feel alone and might be in or heading to a dark place.
German Shepherds are a LOT sometimes, but they have an intuition about their person that can’t be explained. They KNOW what their human is doing and thinking ALL the time. With a German Shepherd:
You will never be alone.
You will have something other than your own thoughts to worry about.
You will have something to care about and defend.
You will have something that cares about and defends you.
You will have no choice but to get up and tend to your German Shepherd.
You will have to establish a routine.
You will have to support your German Shepherd.
You will have other emotions than sadness like motivation, happiness, and love.
You will be living with another being 24/7 who needs you.
You will have something to laugh at.
You will have an intelligent, versatile animal that can adapt to anything.
You will have something to do, like it or not.
Semper Fi.
HOW DOES A VETERAN GET CONSIDERED FOR THE PROGRAM:
If you are the veteran: Look through our available dogs and puppies below and pick one you think would be a good fit for you. Send us a letter or email with your narrative. Be as open or closed as you feel comfortable with. We only need to know enough about your lifestyle to be able to match you with the best canine candidate. We are not medical professionals or counselors, but do understand many of your feelings. If you are in immediate crisis please use the links on this page to find assistance or call 988. To prevent fraud we ask that you include a photo copy of your picture ID and either a copy of your VA card (just the front) or a copy of your DD214, first page. Black out the first five digits of your social security number and then copy that page and send it to us. We do not want your “identity theft” details, just enough to prove that you are a veteran.
If you are a friend or family member of the veteran: Talk to the veteran about our program, we cannot force someone to accept help and the puppy/dog will be there responsibility. If they would like to be considered but do not want to do the paperwork, you can do it for them with their permission.
NAME: Ginger
SEX: Female
BIRTHDAY: 06/07/2025
TALENTS: Curious, alert, ready.
TRIALS: Not patient at feeding time.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: Does well with normal care.
NAME: Fozzy Bear
SEX: Male
BIRTHDAY: 06/07/2025
TALENTS: Knows how to “tell time”, communicates with his expressions, he will tell you where the food goes and when. Fearless.
TRIALS: Will not stay out of the adult dog food!
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: Diagnosed with CIM. May resolves itself by 1 yo. Feeding as though he will always have it.
NAME: Lily
SEX: Female
BIRTHDAY: 06/07/2025
TALENTS: Gives the best kisses, loves to cuddle (on her terms).
TRIALS: Does not like to be restrained, working on this with her.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: Does well with normal care.
NAME: Jack
SEX: Male
BIRTHDAY: 06/07/2025
TALENTS: Fairly calm (except at meal time), alert, friendly.
TRIALS: aka Spider Man. Has been climbing up on the couch to nap since he was around 4 weeks old. Walked across the backs of both couches without touching the floor at 8 weeks.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: Does well with normal care.
NAME: Fawn
SEX: Female
BIRTHDAY: 06/07/2025 to Maxx and El’le
TALENTS: Captures your heart with her sweet temperament. Energetic, but loves to be petted and already follows.
TRIALS: She likes to chew on the wallpaper, but we are breaking her of that lol.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: Feed as though has CIM.
NAME: Ravyn
SEX: Female
BIRTHDAY: 10/26/2023 to Rebyl and Charlie.
TALENTS: Stays close, likes to play, very athletic, loves to please. A fun dog who will make you laugh. She gets along with other dogs and is generally friendly and well behaved.
TRIALS: Jumps up to 6 feet straight in the air to grab objects and will hang there. Would be a great talent if she was put into sports, but does not bode well for the shade tarp on her outside kennel. So if she has an outside kennel it will need a solid/metal roof.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: None. Ravyn does well with basic good care.
NAME: Reyna Bailey
SEX: Female
BIRTHDAY: 10/25/2020
TALENTS: Does not wander/stays close, likes to lay at your feet or curl up with you while you sleep, loves to play with sticks, loves to go for walks, not too high energy – enjoys hanging out, likes car rides and potato chips.
TRIALS: Does not get along with other female dogs and we don’t test this with males, so would be happier as the only dog which is why we put her in the program. I really love Reyna and will be sad to see her go, but a better place for her needs is more important and she is a great companion. She is the only dog we have that we do not know the full history of as we got her when she was 18 months old.
UNIQUE CARE NEEDS: All dogs should be on monthly heartworm and parasite treatment, but Reyna must be at all costs because she had heartworms when we got her. Extreme caution needs to be taken when exposure to other female dogs is possible.
ARE YOU A NON-PROFIT?
No, we are not a non-profit. We sell our other puppies, only a certain number of puppies go into the program.
WHY BREED AND NOT RESCUE?
Without getting too deep into that hot topic and knowing that we ran a rescue in Arizona. The simple answer is that by breeding our dogs we know where they come from and everything they’ve been through. If we get a call about some behavior we know exactly how to address it. We know what issues our dogs have and what may or may not develop. We have all the medical records for every dog. We have DNA tests for every dog. When issues arise in older dogs we know how to manage them. No dog is ever going to be perfect, but we refuse to give up on our goals, German Shepherds don’t ever give up, and we hope by placing them with veterans that they won’t either. One of our puppy buyers recently told me, “He’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed.”
WHY DO YOU SELL SOME AND GIVE AWAY SOME?
In our breeding program we are trying to reverse decades of for-fancy/fad breeding and its tough. There are so many health problems in this breed now, making sure we have the best stock possible for breeding is expensive and we are finding out – difficult. But as all breeders know, you can produce 100 offspring and only have 1 of them that is up to standard. The famous D Litter is a once in a life-time event, so what do you do with the other 99? For us it’s a matter of trying to pair dogs so that every puppy is breed quality, but reality is that there are very few who will make it back into the breeding program. That doesn’t mean there aren’t really good puppies, it just means if you are striving for “perfection” you have to be very honest with yourself and that means that the other puppies are best for pets.
IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THESE PUPPIES?
No. Whether or not a puppy or dog is in the Best Friends program is determined by many factors. It could be as simple as the buyer changed their mind and forfeited their deposit. It could be a cosmetic difference such as a curled tail, a broken ear, or it could be a congenital issue that means he or she is a special needs puppy. It could just be that there wasn’t a buyer for the amount of puppies born in that particular litter and our puppies will NEVER go to a shelter, but we can’t keep them all either. It could also be that even though we love them very much our life isn’t what is best for that particular dog and if the right person and situation presents itself we can let go with purpose. Regardless of reason we will 1) always tell buyers and adopters what we know, and 2) just because they are different or need special care doesn’t mean they don’t have value and purpose.
WHAT DOES A GERMAN SHEPHERD NEED?
ALL GSD’s need exercise, annual vet visits and shots, monthly heartworm and parasite treatment, a proper diet, water, crate in the house and a contained place outdoors with shelter, and training in addition to the individual needs of the animals in our program.