Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Joins Prestigious Congressional Initiative

Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Joins Prestigious Congressional Initiative to Advance the Medical Service Dog Industry

Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs has been selected as one of the two dozen medical service dog organizations nationwide to participate in a special initiative mandated by Congress. The primary objective of this program is to determine if the in-depth details outlined in this initiative for training and pairing service dogs meet the needs of permanently disabled service members and veterans.

This initiative, directed by Danny Benbassat, Ph.D., Commander, U.S. Public Health Service, CofS, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and managed by the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium OTA and acting Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program integrator Jeremy Ramirez, DrPH, MPH, Veteran, US Army, Assistant Professor of Health Informatics, California State University Long Beach Department of Health Care Administration, was created to maintain safety measures to protect service dogs and the public while using data-driven decisions to ensure continued improvement within one of the most vulnerable communities these organizations serve.

As a leading medical service dog organization with highly advanced programs and over a decade of experience, Guardian Angel Medical Service Dogs will work with other organizations like themselves to collect and share their best practices, which will then be used to refine and improve the prototype guidelines for future organizations when it comes time to train and pair assistance/service dogs with qualified service members and veterans.
“Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is proud to have been selected for this crucial project. They have been a highly sophisticated leader in this industry for nearly 14 years, bringing forth many programs above and beyond the current industry standards, thus raising the bar of excellence with our milestones and benchmarks,” said Carol Borden, Founder and CEO of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs.

The current “prototype guidelines” will be tested by the Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs and other selected organizations where they can share best practices to refine existing guidelines, which will allow them to improve service dog programs. This initiative will evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested guidelines while examining a range of issues affecting service members and veterans with service dogs and those who train service dogs.
Once each organization has gathered empirical data on each of the protocols in this program, they will participate in focus group meetings for further discussion and analysis that will help build future guidelines and best practices related to the quality-of-service dog training, the optimal education and matching of service dogs with service members and veterans, and the safety to canines, service members, and the public.

“Our goal is to further shape the future of this life-changing, life-saving industry that deserves much more clarity and respect for the work these amazing dogs do every day. With this valuable opportunity to assist Congress, we will accomplish another enormous milestone in moving the service dog industry forward,” said Borden.

When the study concludes, the findings will be presented to Congress. Currently, it can take 2-10 years for someone to get a service dog. With the additional funding, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs will be able to hire more people and enlarge their facilities, which means they will be able to pair more dogs more quickly with veterans and service members in need.

To learn more about Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, visit https://www.medicalservicedogs.org/.

About Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs

Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a nonprofit organization dedicated to training and donating highly skilled medical service dogs for individuals living with disabilities, with a focus on U.S. military veterans and first responders. With an emphasis on enhancing the lives and independence of their recipients, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs has successfully paired hundreds of dogs with deserving individuals, making a positive impact on families and communities across the nation.

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Carol Borden

The Founder and CEO of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc., Carol Borden, titled her first dog at the age of ten. Mrs. Borden has logged nearly 60 years training dogs in multiple disciplines, from competition to training a dog for a movie, to training the #1 Service Dog in the US, which was the first service dog to ever become the Top American Dog Hero winning over all categories of working dogs in the United States. She started the non-profit Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs organization in 2010.

Mrs. Borden’s expertise and accomplishments are acknowledged by numerous national awards from various industries and agencies including the 2018 Corporate Pet Industry Woman of the Year and multiple awards for her organization’s work in mental health and suicide prevention.

She is frequently requested as a Keynote Speaker, and as an Industry Consultant to teach service dog laws to judicial systems, attorneys, and businesses, and to assist in service dog bills in multiple states that were passed into law. In 2020, she started an Institute for Higher Learning and the Borden Veterinary Hospital. Additionally, she has written and teaches college-accredited/VA-approved apprenticeship courses on dog training and service dog training.