At Bandera treatment facility, shelter dogs train to be emotional support and service dogs for military, law enforcement

BANDERA, Texas — Men and women who choose to protect and serve are dying at alarming rates.

Suicide claims the lives of 22 veterans a day and one law enforcement officer every 17 hours.

A treatment center just outside San Antonio is working to stop this crisis by bringing in man’s best friend.

Since February is National Dog Training Education Month, KENS 5 is learning more about the K9 training happening inside Warriors Heart.

Warriors Heart sits on a 543-acre property in Bandera, treatment center in Bandera, 45 minutes northwest of San Antonio. At the Warriors Heart treatment facility, active military, veterans, law enforcement and first responders are working to heal.

Michelle Axmaker, known as “Cash,” understands the struggles our heroes face.

“They’re probably at the lowest point in their life. They’re sad, they’re depressed, they’re anxious, they’re battling addiction,” she explained. “Their story is mine.”

For several years, Axmaker worked civil service for the Military Working Dog Program at JBSA Lackland.

There, she learned about Post Traumatic Stress, and how it affects people in the real world.

“I was very suicidal. I was on lots of medications and I didn’t want to survive it, but Otis told me I had to,” she said.

Otis is her 7-year-old service dog. 

“His job is to wake me up from nightmares.”

With the help of Otis, Axmaker found healing.

Now, she’s paying it forward at Warriors Heart as the director of the K9 Training Program.

“Service dogs are giving these warriors a sense of purpose, passion, routine, and another reason to keep fighting for their lives,” said Axmaker.

Clients at Warriors Heart can choose to just spend time with the dogs for emotional support. They can also take the partnership with the dog one step further, training the dog to help them cope at home.

“They can move forward into learning to train that dog to specifically mitigate their PTSD symptoms,” Axmaker explained. “Let’s say nightmares. That person may be rolling around and talking in their sleep. We’ll train that dog to touch them and wake them up, stopping that nightmare…It could be having trouble remembering to take medication, it could be feeling nervous in places like grocery stores and restaurants.”

If a client at Warriors Heart has a hard time at a restaurant sitting with their back facing the door, the dog can be trained to watch their handler’s back in those situations.

The timeline to train each dog ranges from 40 to 100 days. Axmaker says about half of the clients choose to take the fully-trained, custom service dogs home for a small adoption fee. The program is covered as part of treatment at Warriors Heart. 

“Most of those warriors are reporting better relationships with their family, they’re more productive at work, they’re able to get out in the community and do things they love, less medication needs and a reduction in suicidal ideation,” said Axmaker, explaining the impact the service dogs have on the lives of their handlers.

While these dogs are credited for saving lives, their lives were saved, too. More than 75% of the dogs in Warriors Heart’s K9 Training Program are rescued from a shelter — for many, it’s days before their euthanasia date.

“We have been able to train and place 175 service and emotional support dogs,” said Axmaker. “Out of those 175 K9 teams that have walked out of Warriors Heart’s gates, we have not lost any of them to suicide.”

To learn more about the program, click here. You can also reach Warriors Heart at any time by calling their 24/7 hotline at 844-448-2567.

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