My husband Bruce Gagnon is a combat Veteran who served in the Marine Corp in Viet Nam. Bruce suffers from PTS along with other health issues from his time in the military.

He and I became involved with then Embrace A Vet/ now MPFV several years ago when he took our dog Foxy through class. He thought it would be beneficial to have a service dog who would be able to go places with him. Little did he know the impact of his decision to join this organization would have on both of our lives. 

After completing the training Bruce was able to go into public places or venture off just he and Foxy in the grocery store. This was something that had not been possible before. Having his canine companion by his side made a huge difference. One day in the grocery store I came upon Bruce chatting with a couple about Foxy and the training they had received. Many months later at one of the MPFV classes one of the veterans told me that we had met before. He was the one we had seen at the store and from that meeting began his journey with MPFV and of having a service dog.

Attending class and seeing the weekly progress that is made by both the veterans and his/her dog is amazing. The first several weeks the veterans are nervous and, in many instances, totally out of their element. Most of the dogs are rescues and have new and different lives. As the weeks go by you can see the veterans become more relaxed and as they relax so do the dogs. The class not only helps train the dogs and their handler it also helps instill confidence in the veterans. One veteran told of being able to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in several years, all because of having his service dog by his side. 

Bruce and I volunteer at MPFV.  We pretty much never left after Foxy’s training was complete.

We have fostered two dogs, Tessa, and Maggie. I took Tessa the Doodle through the training, and she is now with her veteran. 

Maggie is with her veteran and lives in northern Maine. Her veteran drove weekly four to five hours one way to attend class. We often get emails with updates on Maggie and several thank-yous for taking good care of her while she lived with us. We recently attended a refresher class and were thrilled to see both of our foster dogs and their veterans.

At the last fund raiser for Embrace A Vet/MPFV , I was asked to speak about our journey with the organization. That was the first time I had ever given a talk in front of a very large group. After the fund raiser I was telling a friend all about it and about giving a speech. I told her that I wasn’t even nervous. Her reply was “That was because I was talking about something that I was passionate about.” She was right.