September Is Suicide Prevention Month: How Guardian Angels Is Making a Difference

At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, we are dedicated to changing lives through the power of service dogs. This September, during National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, we’re reminded of the heartbreaking reality: approximately 22 veterans die by suicide each day in the U.S. First responders are also at significantly higher risk of PTSD and depression, and across the nation, a life is lost to suicide every eight minutes.

But there is hope. In our 15-year history, not a single recipient paired with a Guardian Angel’s service dog has died by suicide. That is the extraordinary power of these highly trained service dogs—offering stability and life-changing support to veterans, first responders, and civilians living with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other invisible disabilities.

Walk With Us: The 2025 National Mutt Strut

To continue this lifesaving work, Guardian Angels is expanding its signature fundraising event to a nationwide scale.

The National Mutt Strut will take place virtually from October 10–22, 2025, kicking off on World Mental Health Day. For the past eight years, this walk has brought communities together in select cities. Now, for the first time, everyone across the country can participate—walking solo, with a furry friend, or as part of a team.

Participants can choose symbolic distances—1 mile, 2.2 miles, or 22 miles—to honor the 22 veterans lost daily to suicide. Together, every step helps raise awareness and funds to provide more service dogs to those waiting for their Guardian Angel.

Why Your Support Matters

When you register, fundraise, or sponsor the Mutt Strut, you’re not just joining a walk—you’re joining a movement. Every dollar raised goes directly toward training and pairing more medical service dogs with the heroes who need them most.
Registration is now open. Fundraisers will unlock exclusive Mutt Strut swag while making a direct impact in preventing veteran and first responder suicides.

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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.