Operation Service Dog

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Meet Smeagle (male) and his sister Kili (female) from the Hobbit litter. They are Black Retriever, Labs and are 15 months old.

Smeagle’s handler is Gail Morgan-Smith from Barrie, Ontario. Kili belongs to Maggie Van Tassell of Craighurst Ontario. Both dogs are certified service dogs for PTSD.



The dogs were trained and tested by CARES, INC in Concordia, Kansas. Their foster raisers were from Ft. Leavenworth Correctional Facility and Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

These dogs are trained to perform tasks such as – nightmare intervention, anxiety awareness – keeping us grounded before a panic attack sets in and will go to our six when in a line up so folks can’t come up from behind and startle us to name a few. These dogs provide us with a meaningful purpose, having responsibilities such as feeding, watering, walking, and socializing the dogs. The biggest one is the overall well being of the dog.



We trained for a week in Kansas at CARES, INC with the dogs to learn how to be handlers. We practiced the proper words of command and had to pass a public access test. It was an amazing experience and we are soooo grateful, thank you to CARES INC, Paws Fur Thought, Ontario Command Branches and Ladies Auxiliaries’ (Operation Service Dog) and Wounded Warriors Canada”.

Respectfully,

Gail Morgan-Smith & Smeagle

Maggie Van Tassel & Kili