K9s on The Front Line is proud to announce membership in and endorsement by the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans (ASDPMV). This national coalition of non-profit organizations serves exclusively military Veterans with post-traumatic stress and/or traumatic brain injury. We are dedicated to preventing Veteran suicide and improve mental health through several guiding principles:

Responsibilities: ASDPMV defines basic responsibilities for both Veterans and nonprofit organizations. These include enrollment and qualifying criteria, military records, financial ability, access to counseling, family support and home environment, medical needs, communication, follow-up, and re-certification, among others. Our overarching goal is to set both Veteran and K9 up for success.

Stakeholder Education and Partnerships: ASDPMV provides both a unique and unifying platform for partnerships with industry leaders in aviation, hospitality, transportation and veterinary care/insurance, to name a few.

Service Dog Standards: Comprised of national leader organizations, ASDPMV defined standards for Service K9 training and certification to ensure quality and compliance. It allows certified K9-Veteran teams to portrait a confident image of what a true service dog looks like, and will help to extinguish the ‘fake service dog’ epidemic our nation is currently experiencing.

Training Standards: Our service dogs will have a minimum of 300 training hours and an additional 60 hours of public access training. Certification is granted by passing all components of three separate American Kennel Club test requirements (AKC-CGC, AKC-CGCA, and AKC-CGCU), collectively referred to as “AKC+ Test”.  Prior to graduation, a team will also demonstrate proficiency in the specific tasks the K9 has been trained to assist the Veteran.

Clinical Research: Awareness and understanding of medical evidence in support of service dogs is central to ASDPMV’s public advocacy and decision making, as well as supporting ongoing clinical studies and research trials. ASDPMV’s broad national reach makes basic or clinical research programs highly efficient and suitable for multidisciplinary approaches.

Policies and Legislation: Expanded use of qualified service dogs is advocated through bipartisan partnerships and legislative education. Most recently, HR 1448 [PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act] was signed into law by the President of the United States.