"Paws for Purple Hearts"

The animal rights movement is profoundly anti-human in my opinion. Some of this is explicit, as I have discussed. But much of it is implicit, in advocating policies that would prevent us from making proper and humane use of animals resulting in great human harm.

One example of such good is the tremendous service assistance dogs provide people with disabilities. Assistance dogs help disabled people by, for example, opening doors, obtaining cans of soda from the refrigerator, providing loving companionship, and otherwise helping people with disabilities to live more independently. But liberationists think of this as slavery, and wish to eventually prevent such uses. In the meantime, they attack dog breeders. No dog breeding equals no dogs. But that is a story for another day (and my book).

The purpose of this post is to tout a wonderful program that some might consider supporting. Paws for Purple Hearts, a program of the Assistance Dog Institute, in which war veterans with post traumatic shock syndrome help train assistance dogs is providing wonderful benefits to all: the dogs which are engaged by their work; people with disabilities, which move from waiting lists to being paired with a dog more quickly; and, disabled veterans. Talk about a classic, win-win-win!

For those interested in helping support this or other assistance dog non profit programs, Dean and Gerda Koontz have established a $250,000 matching fund challenge grant in memory of their former service dog Trixie. I knew Trixie. She was a really sweet and wonderful dog; gentle, good natured, affectionate, happy. She became a member of the Koontz family after a joint malady forced her out of service. (She helped establish the good friendship Secondhand Smokette and I enjoy with Dean and Gerda when she gave us the coveted seal of approval by licking our hands at our first meeting.) Dean and Gerda intend to honor the memory of the great joy the three shared together by increasing their already bounteous support for service dog charities. If you are interested in contributing to the matching grant in honor of Trixie, hit this link. Mention in the information box that you want your contribution to apply to the matching grant.

Thanks.