Texas Veteran trains service dogs to help fellow Veterans heal

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    PORTLAND, Texas (KRIS) — They say a dog is man’s best friend — but for some, that bond is much more. It’s a lifeline.

Army veteran Larry Vasquez is using that powerful connection to help others heal. The Portland resident owns his own business, Paws 4 Training. He’s using his skills to volunteer with the nonprofit Train a Dog, Save a Warrior (TDSW). The non-profit organization provides service dogs to veterans — free of charge.

“Being a disabled veteran myself, I’ve seen and talked to other disabled veterans, and a lot of them need that type of companionship,” Vasquez said. “But they can’t afford it. Because a service dog costs anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000.”

Vasquez will be training shelter dogs to meet a veteran’s needs.

“We’ll have a veteran go out and pick one, and we’ll train that dog to be a service dog for PTSD, depression, anxiety, anything that veteran suffers from,” said Vasquez.

Vasquez is encouraging people to support TDSW by donating to its cause.

The impact of service dogs on veterans is something viewers of Veterans in Focus have seen before — from Hope Torres, a loyal service animal credited with saving a veteran’s life, to Crowley Dickerson, a pit bull who captured hearts online.

While Vasquez’s volunteer work focuses on veterans, his business, Paws 4 Training, serves pet owners from all walks of life. He started it up in 2022. His goal is to make expert training more affordable and accessible to everyone.

“The goal is to make this a full-time thing, to help people who can’t afford bigger companies,” he said.

Vasquez believes dog training can change a life — and it just might save another, too.

“There’s a lot of dogs that get put down for behavior problems, and it could be as simple as the dog jumping on the counter and people get fed up and they dump it at a shelter, dump it at the road, or just put it down,” he said. “In reality, there’s absolutely no reason.”

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