Veterans Affairs committee  Unfortunately, the demand is out there everywhere, so I don't have any solution to that particular problem.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the best advice would be to utilize the PTSD standards that ADI has already worked on for eight years. Again, they don't deal with just dog training. They deal with all components that are involved in terms of these veterans with PTSD. You know, we were talking about how

Veterans Affairs committee  All of the programs in ADI are non-profit. I can speak for the 106 programs that I oversee. They raise the funding themselves.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. I know this will shock you, but in my program it costs over $60,000 for one team. That's everything—flying the team in, training the dog, keeping the team accommodated. We have a larger program and dorm rooms. It's $60,000 for every team and the veteran does not pay one

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I have a few statistics for some things that just came out of the VA study that was released in early 2021. That VA study confirmed that there was a reduced suicide ideation and clinical depression in all veterans who had service dogs, as opposed to emotional support dogs. T

Veterans Affairs committee  Not at all. The U.S. does not pay for any type of service or guide dog. However, the veterans administration—if you are a veteran who was honourably discharged—does provide veterinary health benefits for the dog, if it's an ADI or IGDF accredited dog. But, no, the government does

Veterans Affairs committee  For a veteran.... It's only for a veteran, not for civilians.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, in the United States, there's an act called the PAWS Act, which just passed the House. That is for therapy for veterans, doing the same thing as you just described your organization doing, where the veteran actually trains service dogs, overs

Veterans Affairs committee  Are you talking about America's VetDogs or about ADI North America?

Veterans Affairs committee  ADI has a book of standards that deal not only with dog training, but also deal with how we treat clients, how we do follow-up, how we figure out if a veteran is ready. That's part of the process. A lot of veterans want a dog but they're not necessarily ready for a dog. We have a

Veterans Affairs committee  No, it's peer to peer, but they are reviewed by an ARC, an accreditation review committee. ADI, as well as its sister organization, IGDF, which deals with guide dogs and people who have guide dogs, reviews every single program to make sure that they are maintaining those standa

Veterans Affairs committee  I will wrap it up. The ADI standards were based on what our veterans told us. They weren't just pulled out of the air. It took eight years to bring those standards from best practices within the assistance dog industry to standards. The past three years of those eight years is

Veterans Affairs committee  As you know, my name is Sheila O'Brien. I live in New York. I work for a program called America's VetDogs, which is the largest veterans-only program in the United States. If you remember Sully, the assistance dog of President Bush, my program placed that dog. I'm happy to say