Programs bringing our mission to life

Rescue & Rehabilitation: giving dogs a second chance

The first step in our journey is rescuing dogs from shelters where they face uncertain futures. These dogs come from a variety of backgrounds – many have experienced trauma or neglect. Our team evaluates each dog’s temperament and personality to determine their readiness for training. We then provide them with the care and rehabilitation needed to thrive in their new roles as emotional support or service companions for veterans.

  • Comprehensive Veterinary Care: All dogs receive full medical exams, vaccinations, spay/neuter surgery, and any other treatments needed to restore health.
  • Tailored Training Plans: Once stable, dogs begin customized training to become emotional support or service dogs based on their strengths and temperament.
A brown and white pitbull with perked ears looks forward while the sun has gone below the trees.

Prison Dog Program

Our Prison Dog Program is a collaborative initiative between our organization and correctional institutions, where we place rescue dogs into structured training programs inside the prison system. Each dog is paired with a selected incarcerated trainer, who provides 24/7 care and participates in a formal training curriculum under the supervision of our professional team.

Inmate handlers doing their morning exercises with their dogs

Program components

  • Daily obedience and behavior training routines.
  • Structured socialization and crate training.
  • Health and hygiene care, including grooming, feeding, and monitoring.
  • Task-specific training aligned with service or support dog goals.
  • Emotional education for incarcerated participants, focused on empathy, responsibility, and non-violent communication.

Graduation requirements

Before graduating from the program, all dogs must pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Test, demonstrating solid obedience, temperament, and social skills. From there, they continue advanced training toward becoming Psychiatric Service Dogs or Emotional Support Dogs, matched with a veteran from our waitlist after they pass the Public Access Test.

This program provides multiple layers of impact:

  • Rescue dogs are trained and rehabilitated in a calm, focused setting.
  • Incarcerated individuals develop job-ready skills, empathy, and purpose.
  • Health and hygiene care, including grooming, feeding, and monitoring.
  • Veterans receive well-prepared, temperament-tested service dogs with foundational training already in place.

Adoption options

You can adopt one of these dogs after their graduation by completing an application. Not sure if you need a trained emotional support dog or a PTSD service dog? See which option fits your needs below.

  • An emotional support dog (ESD) provides comfort and companionship to help relieve symptoms of emotional or mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression. They don’t require specialized training and are not granted public access rights beyond housing and air travel (with restrictions).
  • A PTSD service dog, on the other hand, is specially trained to perform specific tasks for someone with post-traumatic stress disorder—such as interrupting panic attacks, waking them from nightmares, or creating space in crowds. These dogs are legally recognized service animals and have full public access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Looking for an emotional support or fully trained PTSD dog?

Start an Adoption

Battle Buddy: veterans healing with their best friend

The Battle Buddy program is our entry-point community initiative designed to bring veterans and rescue dogs together in a relaxed, non-clinical environment. Held weekly, these group sessions include dog socialization, basic training exercises, and wellness-focused activities designed to build community, confidence, and trust.

This program is ideal for veterans who are considering adding a dog to their lives—or who already have a dog and want to explore whether that dog could be a good fit for Emotional Support or Service Dog work. Participants benefit from:

  • Peer-to-peer support and social connection.
  • Light training exercises focused on trust-building and communication.
  • Access to trainers and behavioral experts.
  • Mental health resources and education.
  • Exposure to wellness practices that include both the veteran and the dog.

Whether you’re looking to strengthen the bond with your dog, find community with fellow veterans, or explore new ways to heal, this program offers a supportive path forward. No pressure, no prerequisites—just a safe space to grow together.

Join Battle Buddy
Looking at a man and his golden retriever from behind as they are sitting on a rocky shore of an alpine lake.

Service Dogs

When a veteran needs a service dog, trained to perform a task directly related to a PTSD disability, Stars & Stripes Dog Rescue works with the veteran in the service training and facilitates their successful completion of Public Access Training.

<1%

of veterans needing a service dog are able to get one

$50k

average investment in a facility trained service dog

A golden retriever with a service dog vest being walked by his handler who is off camera.

Trained service dogs provide life-saving benefits and have the right to go anywhere. Receiving a fully trained service dog comes with a high cost, an average nearing $50k, and this leads to difficulty in getting one. When we remove the training costs and empower veterans to participate in the training process, this creates lasting bonds that restore purpose, reduce isolation, and improve overall well-being.

These extraordinary dogs not only help mitigate the symptoms associated with PTSD, but they can also make it possible for sufferers to live more independently and with a higher quality of life. Beyond companion or emotional support animals, service dogs perform vital tasks such as:

  • Compression therapy during panic attacks.
  • Recognize and interrupt harmful behaviors.
  • Wake a veteran from a nightmare.
  • Create protective barrier in public places.

Want to train your own dog?

The Service Dog Training program is a comprehensive training path for veterans who wish to be directly involved in the process of training their own dog as an Emotional Support Dog or Psychiatric Service Dog.

Whether the veteran already owns a dog or is matched with a carefully evaluated rescue dog through our network, this program provides:

  • Customized training plans tailored to the veteran’s individual needs and goals.
  • Weekly one-on-one and/or remote small-group training sessions led by experienced dog trainers.
  • Education on dog behavior, health, public access laws, and handler responsibilities.
  • Support in bonding, trust-building, and task-specific training such as grounding, interruption of panic attacks, or alerting to anxiety.

If they have not already, dogs in this program work toward passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Test as a foundation of their training. Based on the veteran’s need and the dog’s temperament and ability, we help complete either Emotional Support Dog certification or task-trained Psychiatric Service Dog so they can pass the Public Access Test.

This program honors the leadership, independence, and resilience of our veterans by putting them in the driver’s seat of their own healing journey—with a trusted companion by their side. If you are interested, we invite you to take the next step. Submit an application to get started. Your journey toward healing and connection begins here.

Service Dog Training

Service Dog FAQs

(from ADA.gov)

Under the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.  The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.

  • Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
  • What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

No. The ADA does not require service animals to wear a vest, ID tag, or specific harness.

No.  Mandatory registration of service animals is not permissible under the ADA.

No.  These terms are used to describe animals that provide comfort just by being with a person.  Because they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, they do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.  However, some State or local governments have laws that allow people to take emotional support animals into public places.  You may check with your State and local government agencies to find out about these laws.

No.  Covered entities may not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal, as a condition for entry.

Yes.  The ADA does not restrict the type of dog breeds that can be service animals.

The ADA requires that service animals be under the control of the handler at all times. In most instances, the handler will be the individual with a disability or a third party who accompanies the individual with a disability. In the school (K-12) context and in similar settings, the school or similar entity may need to provide some assistance to enable a particular student to handle his or her service animal. The service animal must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered while in public places unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the person’s disability prevents use of these devices. In that case, the person must use voice, signal, or other effective means to maintain control of the animal. For example, a person who uses a wheelchair may use a long, retractable leash to allow her service animal to pick up or retrieve items. She may not allow the dog to wander away from her and must maintain control of the dog, even if it is retrieving an item at a distance from her. Or, a returning veteran who has PTSD and has great difficulty entering unfamiliar spaces may have a dog that is trained to enter a space, check to see that no threats are there, and come back and signal that it is safe to enter. The dog must be off leash to do its job, but may be leashed at other times. Under control also means that a service animal should not be allowed to bark repeatedly in a lecture hall, theater, library, or other quiet place. However, if a dog barks just once, or barks because someone has provoked it, this would not mean that the dog is out of control.