Puppy Love

Newton High School welcomed a few unique visitors to Deb Johnston’s 11th-grade history class this week, and one of them entered the building on four legs.

The Puppy Jake Foundation, a nonprofit based in central Iowa that connects military veterans with service dogs, visited NHS students to talk about the organization’s mission and answer questions.

Harold, a 2-year-old retriever and service dog, was joined by his veteran, Tony, and Puppy Jake’s Nancy Saltzstein. The class presented Puppy Jake with a table full of dog-training supplies. Newton’s Hy-Vee donated more than $75 toward the cause.

Johnston said it’s important for her students to understand that veterans paid a price, and they need our support. Puppy Jake is one way to help out.

All of the Puppy Jake dogs are placed with veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder. There are currently more than 30 dogs in the program, said Saltzstein. The organization takes in more puppies than it places because the success rate is about 65 percent.

“We get eight puppies into a training litter, they’re all the same age,” Saltzstein said. “Most likely, two of those are going to re-career, they’re not going to make it through the program. Not every dog is meant to be a service dog.”

Harold is special, though. He connected with Tony right away, Saltzstein said. Harold, who has been with his veteran for about six months, knows many commands that help Tony on a daily basis.

Harold can give hugs, pick up keys that were dropped and transfer a credit card to a cashier. He can also let his veteran know when someone is approaching and hit the light switch on a wall. Tony likes to keep Harold on his toes.

“I continue training just because I don’t want him to forget anything,” Tony said. “We go to the store, we practice all the time.”

Saltzstein was Harold’s foster, which means she raised him and trained him for nearly two years before handing the dog off to Tony. She said most fosters don’t get to see the puppies they trained after they’re placed with a veteran. Luckily for the trainer, she is family friends with Tony and gets to see the pair together.

“It’s been fun for me to watch them bond as a team,” Saltzstein said.

Puppy Jake gets its dogs from reputable breeders at 8-weeks-old. The hardest part of training the puppies, Saltzstein said, is not getting frustrated. When the dogs are young, they are fed only by hand, and they work for their food all day long by training.

Dogs with the right temperament and demeanor are eventually placed with veterans. The dogs that don’t make the cut still find a home without a service vest.

“Once that vest goes away, and once they can eat out of a bowl, and once they can just be a dog — it’s amazing,” Saltzstein said. “They are great family pets.”

According to Puppy Jake, the estimated cost of each service dog, from birth to placement, is between $18,000 and $20,000. To learn more about the organization, visit www.puppyjakefoundation.org.

Contact Justin Jagler at 641-792-3121 ext 6532 or jjagler@newtondailynews.com