…from Pirates Pup to Super Service Dog
In 2021, the Pittsburgh Pirates and PNC teamed up to sponsor the training of a medical service dog for a veteran in need. The Pirates became the first professional baseball organization to team up with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs for this cause.
In a public social media contest, Pirates fans worldwide chose the name Bucco for this all-black German Shepherd puppy, destined to change a life forever.
Since that time, little Bucco has worked really hard, training everyday with the trainers at Guardian Angels. He’s learned all the basic commands, like sit, stay, and heel plus a myriad of special skills that normal dogs don’t do, such as being trained as a scent detection dog to alert of chemical changes within his recipients’ body, that may cause a negative medical impact, allowing the recipient to take corrective action prior to any health episode.
He’s also worked really hard to keep up with his Bucco fans, and is quite the social media Supaw-star, with over 3,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 2,000 fans on Instagram! Last week, he made several appearances at PNC Park to watch his teammates play and win.
Bucco’s made several lasting memories with his Pirates’ team and fans. Here are a few of his special moments:
Visiting the field with his Dad on Father’s Day
Hanging out with Pirates Legend, Manny Sanguillen
Holding his very own Paw-ress Conference
Visiting one of PNC’s Grow Up Great centers with the Parrot & Pirates players
and, of course, meeting all the fans!
Here’s a little secret that few people know – Bucco’s very best friend is the Pirate Parrot! These two were best buds from the start and we’re sure they’ll keep in touch.
The best news is that Bucco has completed his training, passed all his classes, and has just met his person. While Bucco is a little bummed about leaving his teammates and retiring his No.1 jersey, he is excited to fulfill his mission in life, ensuring that his recipient is well taken care of! Although Bucco has had a very friendly and public training period, it’s important for people to remember that, once he’s paired with his new person, people should no longer approach or interact with him, unless given explicit permission by his new handler, so that his full focus can remain on his recipient.
Bucco will have a rockstar sendoff from his baseball career as he is paired on the field with his new teammate for life, David, on September 4th at PNC Park. David was an Army medic assigned to the First Infantry during Vietnam and has struggled for years. We know that Bucco is going to be the difference in beginning a beautiful #NewNormal for David.
Please join us in congratulating the Pirates, Bucco and David!
Join host Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, and Event Sponsor PNC Bank for Mutt Strut 2021.
This event is virtual & nationwide and will be live from September 8, 2021 – September 11, 2021.
The dates were chosen on purpose. Sept. 10th is Suicide Awareness Day, and September 11th we will recognize the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks – the single largest reason why this generation of soldiers chose to join our armed forces, and fight for our freedom.
The goal is simple – bring together patriotic Americans who want to help our Veterans, struggling with permanent disabilities that are both visible and invisible. We aim to raise funds for 11 additional service dogs this year, and your participation can help us get there.
Because we never have to share another video like the one below, featuring our friend, Stephanie Hannan. Stephanie is the sister of the late United States Air Force Master Sergeant, Brian Charles Riley. Please help her honor his memory by watching her powerful story below.
Meet the Guardian Angels Ambassadors. Recipients of our Service Dogs, who have volunteered to participate in the Mutt Strut, and offer their perspective on how their dogs have changed their lives.
A New Leash on Life
By: Angie Carducci for PNC Bank
How one veteran’s new service dog brought him out of the basement and back into society, and how you can help others like him with this year’s Virtual Mutt Strut.
Earlier this year, just before The Tower at PNC Plaza largely emptied as Pittsburgh, like so many other places, tried to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it served as a meeting point for U.S. Marine veteran Craig Hodgkins and Army veteran John Kelly with his service dog, Ranger.
Craig served in the Marines from 1976 to 1997. Instead of peacefully retiring after his 21 years of service, though, Craig brought home memories of the missions he was involved in that caused him to gradually retreat from family, friends and society as a whole.
“I’ve slowly become more of a shell, going inside myself, because I can’t talk about a lot of the things that are going on with me,” Craig said in early March. “I pretty much live out of my basement now. I don’t spend the time I need to with my children, with mygrandchildren. If I have to go to the grocery store, I go at 2 a.m.
“Through counseling and getting to meet people, I realized a service dog might be the perfect thing for me.”
After tackling some self-doubts – “I kept saying there’s others who deserve it more” – Craig applied and was approved for a Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog. PNC arranged for Craig to meet with John Kelly to talk about what to expect when he visited Guardian Angels in Williston, Florida – a trip John, a 10-year U.S. Army veteran who lives with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, had made in 2016.
You will find a connection with these animals unlike anything you’ve ever experienced,” John said, with Ranger at his side.
“Twenty to 22 [veterans] a day are committing suicide because we don’t have a good handle on the PTSD problem, and here we have companies like PNC and others helping to fund the $25,000 for a service dog, saying, ‘If this is something that’s going to help you have a better life after you’ve given so much for this country, this is the least we can do.'”
Craig was so excited that he had a digital clock in his basement counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to his Florida trip.Then came the crushing news that, due to the pandemic, the trip had to be postponed.
Finding a way
PNC and Carol Borden, founder and CEO of Guardian Angels, came up with a plan. As soon as travel restrictions allowed, two Guardian Angels trainers drove 17 hours in a rented 15-foot cargo van to Grove City, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, with six service dogs in tow – all being delivered to recipients in the region.
The trainers, along with a couple of prior recipients who came with their dogs to help out, spent five days at a hotel working to acquaint the veterans with their new service dogs. Service dog recipients usually spend 10 days in Florida, so these teams had a lot of work to do in a compressed timeframe. The dogs have already been trained for 18 to 24 months to help recipients deal with everything from mobility issues to traumatic brain injuries, PTSD and other combat- related injuries. But the veterans need to learn how to work with their new canine partners, too.
Craig was paired with Foxy, a black German Shepherd sponsored by the Colcom Foundation. “I’ve smiled more in the last five days than I have in the last five years,” he said on the last day in Grove City. He also got an early glimpse into how the new relationship would unfold when, twice in those five days, Foxy jumped up on the bed to wake him from night terrors.
How PNC is helping
In 10 years, Guardian Angels has trained and placed more than 340 service dogs at no cost to the veteran, but the waiting list for a dog is long.
The cost to breed, raise and train a service dog is $25,000.
PNC and its corporate partners have sponsored 53 dogs over the past four years, primarily through PNC Community Mutt Struts in Pittsburgh, Erie and Dayton. These family- friendly events feature dog parades with categories and prizes, food, music, pet- and veteran-related vendors, auctions and more.
Like many events, Mutt Strut is going virtual this year, and we can’t wait to share how many of those in-person activities are going to translate to the online event. It takes place from Tuesday, Sept. 8, though Saturday, Sept. 12, which also happens to be National Suicide Prevention Week. Stay tuned to learn more on how we hope to help Guardian Angels save more lives, like Craig’s.
A changed life
“Foxy and I are doing so well,” he told us, five weeks after the pairing. “I’ve been able to go to the grocery store, the hardware store, anywhere I want to, more times since we have been paired than I have in the past five years.
“She’s already stopped me from getting hurt. We just moved into a new apartment that’s perfect for us, and I have been slowly decorating the walls. This past weekend, I started to climb the ladder, and Foxy got up and started whining. Respecting what I’ve been told about listening to her, I stopped what I was doing, and then it hit me. My vertigo went into overdrive, and I had to immediately sit down. I never expected she would be able to clue in on vertigo, but she did, and I believe I would have fallen off the ladder had she not warned me.
“I have not been this happy in years. This is so important, and I am so appreciative for what I have received. Last night, the words started flowing on a song I’m writing about Foxy and how this has changed my life. All I can say is the title of the song – that I have ‘A New Leash on Life.'”
PNC’s Mutt Strut is now accepting registrations, photo contest entries and previewing auction items! Registration is FREE. Simply text “MuttStrut” to 76278, or click the button to join in the fun.
Watch here.
by: Briana Brownlee
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – As the saying goes, a dog is man’s best friend, but in this case, a woman’s best friend.
Karen Louise O’Neal, is a Navy veteran who served her country for 20 years. From 1973 to 1993, she served an EMT. After her stint in the military, she was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression because of events she witnessed. “Of course, being part of the ambulance crew, I saw a lot of gruesome injuries,” O’Neal said. “Also, when I was in San Diego, there was a PSA plane that crashed in San Diego with a smaller plane I think there were 163 lives lost in that and it stuck with me for a long time.” While still serving, O’Neal said she was able to push those traumatic events to the back of her mind. When she retired, those memories started to resurface. Before going to counseling, she struggled with rational and irrational fears.
“I would fear that something would happen to our daughter when she went outside,” she said. “I would hide in the doorway and keep an eye on her. I could only go as far as the mailbox and that was it. I became a hermit, I couldn’t go out to do grocery shopping, the pet store, whatever we needed to do, I withdrawn from that.” At her lowest, she decided to seek counseling. Her doctor suggested that she get a medical service dog. Taking the advice, O’Neal applied for a medical dog at Guardian Angles Medical Service Dogs; a service dog organization that raise, train and pair medical service dogs to people with permanent visible and invisible disabilities. Approximately 95% of the recipients for Guardian Angels are veterans.
According to Guardian Angles’ Chief Operating Officer, Mary Jo Brandt, many donors choose to donate dogs their dogs to aide veterans and first responders start a new normal. “We just have a passion for our veterans for people who go out there and do everything they can to keep our country safe. This is our way to give back,” Brandt said. O’Neal has found a new friend with the help of Brandt Guardian Angels: Patton, a 5-year-old English Box Head Black Lab. Patton is known to help wake O’Neal when she suffers from night terrors.
“Like they say in the military, he got my sixth, he got my back,” O’Neal said. “I had contemplated suicide, in fact if I didn’t have Patton, I’m’ not sure I would be talking to you right now.” Brandt “Guardian Angles is here to help because dogs aren’t here to judge. “If you drop something on the ground and need it picked up for the 100th time that day that dog does not care, it is a game and that dog is happy to do it, they just need a little love and praise,” Brandt said.
Patton does more than help O’Neal with her depression. “He’s an excellent listener, He keeps me distracted in overwhelming environments, he alerts me when my blood sugar is too low or too high,” O’Neal said. One Christmas Eve, O’Neal was at church and she noticed Patton kept putting his head on her knee and his tail was wagging. She tried several times to get him to sit down but he wouldn’t. “I was thinking maybe it’s not him, it’s me not him,” O’Neal explained. “I checked my blood sugar and it was extremely high so once I took my insulin, he was fine. He alerted me by the change and smell of my skin because of the increase sugar level.”
O’Neal told WANE 15’s Briana Brownlee that she decided to join the military to help pay for school and the opportunity to travel across the world. Now that she is doing better mentally, she is proud that she served her country.
If you are interested in applying for a service dog click here. If you would like to donate, click here.
Karen and Patton are one the hundreds of teams we’ve paired in 29 states across the nation. Our dogs save & change the lives of their recipients, by allowing them a beautiful New Normal that restores dignity, freedom and independence to their lives. If you would like to donate to, or fundraise for Guardian Angels so we can continue providing these incredible, individually-trained dogs to deserving applicants on our waiting list, simply click fill out the form below.
What a beautiful day for Recipients’ Robert & Sarah, who, with their Service Dogs by their sides, walked down the aisle and said their vows. Robert & Sarah have made many friends through their Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Community, many of whom were in attendance; including Service Dog Nina who served as the “flower girl” with her handler Jim. Service Dog Harry who served as Ring Bearer, with handler Charlie; and Service Dog Rocket, who, with handler Rudy walked Sarah down the aisle.
In all, 10 medical service dogs attended the wedding with their handlers, all of them paired by Guardian Angels.
Mary Jo Brandt, Chief Operating Officer of Guardian Angels performed the ceremony, and it was well-attended by Guardian Angels staff members as well.
Robert & Sarah have requested donations to Guardian Angels in lieu of gifts. If you’d like to donate, please visit: https://medicalservicedogs.networkforgood.com/projects/88155-robert-sarah-brown-paws-wedding-campaign
Robert & Sarah’s Wedding was covered by both the Gainesville Sun and WCJB20, and we’ve included their stories or links to their stories below.
You can also find a photo gallery in the Gainesville Sun: https://www.gainesville.com/photogallery/LK/20191212/PHOTOGALLERY/121209980/PH/1
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog Recipient Brigadier General Donald Bolduc and his Service Dog Victor made an appearance on Fox & Friends this September 11th to discuss the military response to the attacks and the policies that have followed.
Below is General Bolduc and his Service Dog, Victor; pictured with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Founder & CEO, Carol Borden shortly after their pairing in 2018.
Nathan Havenner, Reporter, through The Gazette in Medina, Ohio has just published a great story on Recipient, Bryan, his post-military struggles after injuries from 2 roadside bombs in Fallujah, Iraq, and his pairing with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog, Fahrny.
Fahrny’s training was sponsored by the amazing team at Armstrong Cable, who have run a multi-year fundraising campaign called Healing Heroes to pair veterans in their service areas with Medical Service Dogs from Guardian Angels. You can learn more about their incredible efforts by visiting:
Read the full story here:
Photos of Bryan meeting Service Dog, Fahrny for the 1st time
