By Lindsay Dobruck, AKC Magazine
A recent study revealed that first responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty, exhausted by the physical and emotional trauma of the job. In response to this sobering statistic, Performance K9 Training, of Carlsbad, California, launched the Firehouse Project, which places specially trained “facility dogs” at firehouses to support fire-fighters’ emotional health. Partnering with Thor’s Hope Foundation, they gifted their first facility dog to the Vista Fire Department in 2019, and last October, the Los Angeles County Fire Department added two more members to their peer support team – Labrador Retrievers Milo, 3, and Echo, 2 (who was trained by the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation)…
