Animal Care Staff at Shelter to Soldier Share Common Goal to Help Veterans and Shelter Dogs in Need “Saving Lives, Two at a Time”
Sydeny Frye with (L to R) Paisley, Jax and Presley Shelter to Soldier (STS), a California nonprofit organization, is equally committed to animal welfare as it is to veterans’ mental health and suicide prevention. Currently, the STS psychiatric service dog training program houses, cares for and trains twentysix dog trainees, all originally from local shelters and rescue organizations throughout Southern California, and each on a 12-18 month trajectory to learn the tasks needed to one day support a post-9/11 combat veteran in need. The STS Animal Care Team includes eleven Animal Care staff members who are dedicated to around-the-clock feeding, grooming, potty breaks, stall cleaning, behavior and the overall health and wellness of every STS psychiatric service dog in training. Their ultimate goal is to provide balanced, 26
WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / JANUARY 2022
healthy, fully trained psychiatric service dogs at no charge to veterans who have given a tremendous amount to our country. Shelter to Soldier Kennel Supervisor Cassie Bostrom is motivated to help the veteran community and is inspired by family members who were enlisted over the years in the military. She manages the STS Animal Care Team in the daily duties to monitor each dog at the STS facility through their training program to prepare them to be matched with a US veteran seeking help through the STS program. Cassie remarks, “I think seeing the difference from when the dogs first arrive at our facility and when they leave with their veteran match is very tangible…it’s so
