New Life K9's
Chapman House

Hello!

Welcome to the New Life K9's informational site!

New Life K9's is a service dog training organization specifically for veterans and first responders living with PTSD. Each dog trains for two years and is then assigned to a veteran or first responder with PTSD. The dogs train at the California Men's Colony to cut down on costs as well as help the inmates that work with them. Volunteers have noticed a positive change in the inmates that have spent time training. These dogs are making a positive impact on everyone who comes in contact with them.

The Routine

When you walk into New Life K9’s in San Luis Obispo, California, you can expect to be greeted by several jumping and excited dogs. Given their temperament, you would never suspect that they are service dogs that spend nearly 40 hours a week training. Bun-Bun is an in-office bunny used to help the dogs with their inherent predatory nature. As descendents of wolves, all dogs have a predatory sense. Bun-Bun has the run of the office to help the trainers determine if a dog’s temperament will be suitable for a service dog. The dogs learn to be gentle with her, which translates to a gentle service dog that won’t run away from their veteran when they see another animal. Service dog educator Rosalinda Mendoza works long hours at New Life K9s. She takes the dogs that are still in training to the prisons in Soledad and San Luis Obispo Monday through Thursday for a full day of training. On a typical day, she arrives at the office before sunrise, and doesn’t usually get home until after sunset. “There’s just always something that needs to be done,” she said. After fueling up with her coffee, Mendoza is ready to take Gigi to the California Men’s Colony on Oct. 10 for training. New Life K9’s trains their animals at the prison because it helps keep the cost down. The goal for New Life K9’s is to produce service dogs at an affordable price. Typically, training a service dog can cost up to $20,000. By training the dogs at the local prisons, New Life K9’s is able to cut that cost in half. After fueling up with her coffee, Mendoza is ready to take Gigi to the California Men’s Colony on Oct. 10 for training. New Life K9’s trains their animals at the prison because it helps keep the cost down. The goal for New Life K9’s is to produce service dogs at an affordable price. Typically, training a service dog can cost up to $20,000. By training the dogs at the local prisons, New Life K9’s is able to cut that cost in half. After fueling up with her coffee, Mendoza is ready to take Gigi to the California Men’s Colony on Oct. 10 for training. New Life K9’s trains their animals at the prison because it helps keep the cost down. The goal for New Life K9’s is to produce service dogs at an affordable price. Typically, training a service dog can cost up to $20,000. By training the dogs at the local prisons, New Life K9’s is able to cut that cost in half. While the dogs are away for training, retired police officer and New Life K9’s volunteer and recipient Greg Gallo runs errands with his dog Eddie. As a retired san luis obispo police officer, Gallo has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and brings Eddie with him everywhere to help cope with flashbacks. “Because I was with the SLO police department it’s very easy for me to have flashbacks,” he says. “I would be driving downtown and pass a location where I had a call, and it would take me right back.” Gallo says that Eddie is able to sense when he is feeling anxious and knows how to help calm him down. New Life K9’s holds a graduation ceremony for every dog that passes training. At the ceremony, the dogs are presented with their official New Life K9’s service vest, as well as their very own trading card. The office staff is preparing for a bootcamp for veterans and their service animals for the week of Oct. 15. Director of administration Dillon Jamison stops by the office to go over last minute details for the bootcamp, as well as fundraising campaigns and other logistics that keep New Life K9’s running. Director of education Nicole Hern works on her training techniques with her dog Peanut. While Peanut is not a service dog, Hern has been working with her to help strengthen her own training habits. 'I haven’t trained a service dog in a long time,” she says, “so every now and then I work with Peanut for practice for myself in case I do end up training again in the future.' Hern shows Peanut two shapes, describes what they are, and then asks her to pick a specific one. The reason they train the dogs to do this is so the dogs can learn process of elimination. Hern says, 'Let’s say the veteran asks the dog to grab the remote. On the floor there is a shoe, a bag, and the remote. If the dog knows what a shoe is and knows what a bag is, they will be able to identify that the one thing left is most likely the object the veteran is asking for.' At New Life K9s, the trainers don’t reward the dogs with treats. Instead, they do what is called “bond-based training.” The dogs learn good behavior based on the reactions they get from their trainers. The trainers never command the dogs to do anything. They train with the philosophy that the animals will learn better and be more successful when there is a mutual respect between them. They never teach the dogs to sit or lay down on command. The dogs will sit and lay down when it is appropriate to do so. That being said, the dogs do get treats on occasion, but that’s all they are--treats. They are not a reward for good behavior, but rather a treat “just because.” In the afternoon, Hern takes Hercules on a “sniffy walk” for 15 minutes. A “sniffy walk” is a walk in which the dog is the leader. Every dog at New Life K9’s participates in a “sniffy walk” every day. Anywhere they want to go, the trainer follows. If the dog wants to run, the trainer does their best to keep up. The idea behind a “sniffy walk” is to strengthen the mutual respect between the trainer and the dog. The dog gets a chance to be the boss and explore wherever he/she sees fit. During his “sniffy walk” Hercules took Hern to the lot where donated cars are kept until they can be restored and turned into “mission cars.” These cars are donated by community members and then fixed up and sold at a reasonable rate to raise money for New Life K9’s. In Sept. alone, more than 10 mission cars were donated. At the end of a long day of training, the dogs have free reign of the office and outside pasture to play and be normal dogs. They work for the majority of their day, but according to Rosalinda Mendoza, they’re never too tired for a game of tug-of-war. “After hours of being ‘on’ nonstop, they really look forward to coming back to the office and just being regular dogs,” Mendoza said.

The Impact

Click on each image to hear what these volunteers have to say about their time and experience with New Life K9's.

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Testimonial

Greg Gallo is a retired police officer. After living with PTSD in his post-retirement life, he finally was able to find a service dog specifically for him through New Life K9s. Not only has his dog, Eddie, made his life better, but he has also made Greg's family happier too.

PTSD Statistics

PTSD Statistics in Veterans and First Responders sourced from:

NBC News
National Public Radio
Veterans and PTSD
LA Times
PTSD Infographic
Infogram