It’s a weekday afternoon in the Dog Tag Buddies warehouse, and Navy veteran Zach Brunette, just wrapped up a mental health workshop with his German Shepherd Coleman, an 18-month teenager.
“Poor guy’s got a big day, 8 hours sitting up in here,” said Brunette.
Dog Tag Buddies works with veterans over two years to train certified service dogs as an aid for PTSD and other invisible conditions. One academic study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2024 suggests service dogs help lower symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression.
Dog Tag Buddies also provides supplemental programs, like the mental health workshop Brunette completed. According to staff, many veterans come to them during a time of crisis.
“Little over a year ago, [I] kinda had a point [where] I had to make some changes. Very scary point in my life,” said Brunette. “It’s a foreign concept and it’s not easy to be vulnerable in this sense, but I’m very grateful I did.”
Dog Tag Buddies Executive Director DeeDe Baker said each dog-veteran pairing costs $15,000 a year at no charge to the veteran, and there are currently 20 teams training, with more waiting to join. Whether they’ll be able to is now in doubt. Organizations like Dog Tag Buddies are facing a funding crisis.
Baker said the group previously received $600,000 in funding from the federal Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program. In June, Baker learned funding had not been renewed.
“Literally I could not be doing the program that I am without those dollars. It’s about 80 percent of our budget,” she said.
Over the last six months, she’s been trying to rally support from Congress with emails, calls and even a visit to DC. Then, in early December, she and 27 other small service dog organizations nationwide addressed a letter to congress asking for help.
"I'm really beating the drums because we're in this crisis mode,” said Baker. “We have a very short time to fix this.”
She said the remaining federal funding expires December 31.
