DAN SAYERS

Top right : German Shepherd Dog puppy ‘ Indi ’ practices her down-stay . Below : Labrador Retriever mix ‘ Jango ’ was the first Operation Save-A-Pet , Save- A-Vet service dog to be placed with a veteran .

passion has always been training ,” says Helen Carlson of Greencastle , Pa . The mother of three adult children owns and operates a boarding kennel and training facility with husband Brad , where local dog owners come to learn basic obedience or to polish their agility performances . Recently , however , Helen has added a specialty to her facility ’ s curriculum : Service Dog Training .

Helen grew up on a Pennsylvania “ farmette ” where her mother bred Smooth Fox and Sealyham Terriers . As a young girl , she had German Shepherd Dogs and Labrador Retrievers of her own that she showed in Obedience . Years later she competed in Agility with Border Collies . “ I started training dogs when I was a teenager ,” Helen says , and she was always determined to get the best performances from her dogs .

When her aging mother needed help with the farm and kennel , Helen and Brad moved the family “ back home ,” where they established a business . “ We started with just a small area for boarding that ’ s grown over the past 15 years to include training and doggie daycare ,” Helen says .

Word of the new facility quickly spread in their small town , and Helen ’ s reputation as a dog trainer par excellence got noticed in the county seat . In the fall of 2014 , Justin Slep , Director of the Franklin County Veterans Affairs Office , approached her to see if she ’ d be interested in working on a new program that he was developing to pair service dogs with disabled veterans .

The program was called Operation Save-A-Pet , Save-A-

Vet . Established , in part , through a grant from the Pennsylvania Veterans ’ Trust Fund , the program is dedicated to helping Franklin County veterans with service-connected disabilities lead happier , healthier and more productive lives . Helen immediately said yes to Justin , who is a disabled veteran himself . She knew that her lifetime of training dogs had prepared her well for this partnership .

Helen and Justin initially wanted to use as many rescue dogs as possible , but finding suitable canine candidates that could assist veterans with traumatic brain injury ( TBI ) or post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) would prove to

be a challenge . “ The problem is [ that ] the temperament of a service dog is a very narrow pathway ,” Helen explains . “ You have this continuum of temperament — fear on the one end and aggression on the other — and you ’ ve got this very narrow path where the temperament of a service dog has to be .”

Helen started to network online with rescue organizations to find introductory dogs , but she was not always greeted with open arms . “ Some wouldn ’ t work with us because they didn ’ t know who the end person was who would receive the dog ,” she explains . Other local groups were willing to consider working with Helen but only if they had a dog that could pass their own temperament test . “ I would then go in and see if the temperament of the dog would work for our needs ,” Helen says . Through this method , a pair of dogs was ultimately chosen for the program ’ s inaugural class . “ The first two dogs we got from rescues were Lab mixes ,” says Helen , “ and they ’ re working well with the two veterans we placed them with .”

This “ search and rescue ” approach to find suitable dogs can be fraught with failure . “ Most organizations fall back on Labs because you have a greater selection among dogs that like to work and also like people ,” Helen explains . Unfortunately , having a large talent pool does not guarantee success . “ We had one Lab that scored low in drive [ for field work ] but was way too

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PHOTOS COURTESY HELEN CARLSON