Message from Founder – End of Year 2024 - Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs

What a challenging year 2024 has been. So many people in our country were negatively affected by rising costs. For most, there was tremendous attention paid to this year’s election as it gripped our nation, and our communities were further distracted with great trepidation of the unrest unfolding worldwide. Closer to home the readiness of our campus was tested by two hurricanes, while others across the country lost everything. As a result, philanthropy across the entire non-profit sector of our country has been seriously impacted.

However, through all the highs and lows, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs remains strong and continues to forge ahead with our mission despite the obstacles that we were confronted with in 2024. Our strength and commitment to our mission remain undaunted by these events. Instead, we found ways to further strengthen our already highly sophisticated program.

There are many blessings that we can count in 2024:

We successfully finished our first year of the Congressional mandated program of testing out protocols for the service dog industry.
We had many beautiful, well-attended fundraisers in multiple states.
We have added some wonderful new people to our staff who will continue to improve our services while we continue to be thankful for the many years of service so many of our other staff members have and continue to contribute.
Our new Pennsylvania campus made headway this year with the repair of the pond, the perimeter fencing, and our conservation/restoration project with our partners at Penn State and Shell Oil to bring new life back to this strip-mined property.
We aligned with nationally certified mental health professionals to further support our recipients and their families, and they will offer life counseling as well.
There are several new deserving teams that were paired this year.
Our most important blessing as we rapidly approach our 15^th birthday is that we remain at “0” suicides and less than a 3% divorce rate among our working teams.

While we are extremely proud of this year’s milestones and the progress we made, we are anxiously anticipating a much more bountiful philanthropic climate in 2025.

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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.