An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Cold nosed but warm hearted

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dustin Mullen
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Canine Companions for Independence, a non-profit service dog organization, is hosting Dogfest Walk-n-Roll in Panama City Beach March 7.

This free event, part of the Wounded Veteran initiative, will take place at Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

According to the CCI website, they are dedicated to providing highly-trained assistance dogs to children and adults with disabilities, free of charge.

Canine Companions for Independence is looking for volunteers for this event, as well as, groups or organizations to sign up and form teams to collect donations. Teams are encouraged to hold fundraising events and collect donations to help the event reach its target goal.

"As a non-profit organization, we rely on donations," said Tony Super, team recruitment and sponsorship chair for the event. "We are hoping to raise our goal amount of $60,000. The more we are able to raise, the more service dogs we will be able to train and provide."

The event will feature several attractions such as a family-friendly dog walk, a demonstration by the 325th Security Forces Squadron Military Working Dog team, a doggy kissing booth, a certified dog psychiatrist, and many more activities for the whole family.

"This is the first time we have held this event here," Super said. "The community support has been outstanding and is growing each day."

Each service dog provided is raised with volunteer puppy trainers for 14 to 18 months with over 40 commands to assist individuals with disabilities ranging from quadriplegics to someone suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said Super.

The organization provides four types of service dogs: facility dogs for professional use with patients, hearing dogs for the hard of hearing or deaf, companion dogs for children with disabilities and service dogs for adults with disabilities, Super added.

The organization has donated more than 4,500 service dogs to people with disabilities.

"These service dogs improve the quality of life for disabled people," Super said. "As part of our veterans initiative, we are looking for more veterans to apply to receive a service dog."

For more information, or to make a donation, visit http://CCI.org/dogfestpanamacity.