Exploring the World of Animal Shelters: An Inside Look at Saber Life Foundation

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An interview with Saber Life Foundation from Pineville, Missouri.

Introducing Saber Life Foundation

Our foundation started with our daughter, Gracynn, when she was in 5^th grade elementary. She had been diagnosed by this time in her life with several diagnoses, Essential Tremors and Autism being the main diagnosis, with several “legs” of diagnosis that were presenting themselves from the main diagnosis.

It wasn’t long into our fundraising we started to realize was brought to our attention that our daughter may benefit from a service dog.

Once obtained and we started fundraising, as many are aware that service dogs are very expensive to obtain, we started our journey, making and selling homemade dog treats at local events.

It was at that time that we started to quickly realize that the need was greater than just our daughters.

At that point, we decided that once we were able to finalize our daughters’ service dog training with our fundraising efforts, we wanted to give back, and what better way to do that than to establish a nonprofit and start paying it forward to the next individuals in need.

But we didn’t just stop there; we were quickly learning that our Veterans were in the same situations.

We were hearing and seeing that there were not any real substantial areas to provide our Veterans with service dogs without substantial amounts of having to prove themselves beyond great measure of the need at hand. 

What Is The Process Of Training Service Dogs And Matching Them With Those In Need?

The process of training our potential service dogs is based on the needs of each client we approve through the application process through our foundation.

Based on many factors allows us to say that there are many things we have in place that set us aside from others in the nonprofit business that trains and places service dogs with those in need.

We were not only seeing these gaps in other nonprofit businesses but in our own government Veteran Administrations where our Veterans were falling into similar gaps and the needs not being met.

When we started our foundation at the peak of COVID 2020, we went in with great knowledge that we needed to be able to fill the gaps that others were not.

These potential goals were based on conversations with Veterans and individuals that were customers at local events we set up to sell our homemade dog treats, educational research, and us as parents advocating for our own daughter.

This was our way of filling those gaps so that potentially many more in need that were being turned away from other businesses for whatever reasons those were.

We took all the information we gathered, put our board together, and built our nonprofit to do just that, building a nonprofit where there are no gaps that would have to be filled by another, having to turn people in need away.

With all gaps filled and in place, we are able to 100% provide Custom-Trained service dogs to those in need, young and old, with visual disabilities, and those with non-visual disabilities across the board with no hesitation or gaps to fill.

We train our dogs, not in a general sense but are custom to each one of our client’s needs. Each and every person with disabilities are different in their needs.

Therefore, some will need additional tasks versus others that may not need the more extensive training. This makes our training time vary for each client ranging from 8/9 weeks up to 18 months. 

That may sound like a very long time, but there is a process that takes place with each and every potential service dog that we place.

We do not feel that it is appropriate to raise our dogs in kennels, yet to be placed in our “Fosters” homes to ensure that our dogs get that home environment setting before they go to their forever home. Once they are placed with one of our fosters, they undergo all obedience and task training while in the fosters’ home.

Our trainer(s) meet with the fosters within their home and in public access to work with the dogs and tasks needed to complete. The trainer(s) leave the fosters with homework to continue working on certain tasks until the trainer returns to continue training on the next task week after week.

Once the obedience training and task training is complete and the time comes for the dog to go home for bonding and placement. Our clients are required to attend a 1-week long Handlers Training Course to then educate them on how to utilize the task and commands that the Service Dog has learned over time while in their foster home placement.

After the Handler Training Course is complete, the Service Dog and new handler return home to learn to work as a team and bond together. We then offer an additional 3 to 4 months of ongoing training for the team that may be needed to do specifically with the team together and not with a foster, addressing any questions or concerns that may arise, public access, or anything that may arise in between.

Never have we or will we train a Service dog and place the dog in their home just for our clients to figure things out on their own, as to say we did what was needed and trained a Service dog and no additional training or continued ongoing training after the placement occurs.

That is not how we want to represent ourselves as a foundation, nor will we ever be presented in that manner.

We take great pride in what we offer to our clients, and many of us have become very close, like family, during and after the placements of our Service Dogs. 

Can You Share With Us Some Of The Heartwarming Stories Of Animals Rehabilitated And Rehomed By Saber Life Foundation?

We have had so many clients that each and every placement is not just a unique placement but filled with many happy heartfelt emotions.

We always will have our second family that will always be an immediate stand out from the beginning of our first year.

Our “Prince family” that a Goldendoodle named Hammer was placed and named by his little 2-year-old friend and handler, Dad and Mom as the main handlers.

Will, between the age of 1 and 2, completely went non-verbal and would only say one word at a time as a fixated word like “wheel,” then at the time of naming his Service Dog in training, Will’s current fixated word was “Hammer” so every time he would see videos or pictures of his dog he would point and say, Hammer.

Of course, this stuck, and that’s how his name came to be, Hammer or, depending on the day, “Hammer Dog.”

A the time when we met with the Prince family, Will was an eloper; there was absolutely no recalling of his name whatsoever; this could quickly have turned into a serious emergency as he would dart towards streets with no sense of danger.

This in itself was a huge safety concern that kept the family from being able to go on any family outings, attending any family functions, or just a trip to the local grocery store was not an option.

If the family were out and about, it would quickly be decided that it was a place there was no way around it that Will had to go in, they would have to strap him in a 5-point harness child’s stroller to go in anywhere based on fear of eloping anywhere or directly into traffic or simply not being able to catch him if he was to happen to get away from his parents and run away. 

Since placement after almost a year of waiting to complete the training process for his Service dog. Hammer 2022 was placed with his forever family.

Hammer was trained with a few tasks that we knew would desperately going to be needed to give this family and their child their lives back and potentially could, at some point, save their child’s life. Hammer was taught “Run and Block,” “Track and Trail,” and Tethering.

These three tasks enabled this family to feel safe going into public with not anyone having to stay at home or stay in the car.

At the same time, someone ran into the store to grab what was needed or had to strap Will in a 5-point stroller to keep him safe, but it gave Will the sense of independence that was desperately needed as a child that he could walk in any place with his dog, head held high, walking my dog, yet if he lets go of his leash Dad or Mom has their own leash they are holding.

He’s tethered to Hammer, so the safety concern of elopement was no longer a concern anymore, and the idea of not having to strap down in a stroller screaming through the facility was no longer an ongoing issue.

The bond between Will and Hammer in the last year has been amazing in so many ways, one being the biggest that the elopement is no longer a concern with the tasks in place, but with Hammer and the help of therapy, Will is a nonstop talking little machine now!

This family has not overcome hurdles but has moved mountains since taking that step to obtain a Service Dog for their son. 

What Are The Help Needed From The Local Community?

We are always looking for Fosters to help us with the need to keep our dogs out of a kennel and in the in-home environment that’s needed for these potential Service Dogs.

There will potentially always be a need for annual sponsors to help support the costs of vests and patches that we provide while in training as well as at completion and placement time into the client’s forever home.

Donors annually fund to help us fulfill the additional funding needed to allow us to offer a subsidy to those families, Individuals, and Veterans in need that are unable to cover the total cost at 100%, yet not have to be turned away due to a financial situation.

Can You Give Us An Idea Of The Scale Of Saber Life Foundation, Such As The Number Of Service Dogs You Have Placed And The Number Of Individuals And Veterans You Have Helped?

We established in the peak of COVID 2020. Since establishing until now, February 2023.

We have an overall total of completed placements, or still in training,16 Service dogs, with that number growing by the day with new applications and Client Agreements being signed. 

How Do You Ensure That The Service Dogs You Place Are Well-Suited For The Specific Needs Of The Individuals And Veterans You Serve?

Not only do we Custom train Service Dogs to directly fit the needs of each client and offer 3 to 4 months of additional training, but we also offer a service that is in every Client Agreement that is signed stating that at any time during the 2-year agreement.

Our trainer(s) or as a foundation deems the potential Service dog to be unfit for any reason and cannot complete the training program, we offer a replacement at no additional cost to the client, as well within the first 24 months even though we do administer hereditary testing at the time we obtain our pups,  that covers 250 potential hereditary diseases.

We acknowledge that there is always a chance that the Service Dog may potentially develop within the first 24 months of life a hereditary disease that is non-preventable with veterinarian preventative vaccinations, we again offer that replacement of a Service Dog at 100% no additional cost to the client. 

Can You Tell Us About Any Challenges You Have Faced At Saber Life Foundation And How You Have Overcome Them?

Establishing in 2022, when COVID hit and shutting the doors of entry to nearly every one of our big local corporations, keeping everyone at home to start working remotely.

We knew we were facing huge challenges, but we were willing to face whatever was coming our way.

What this time allowed us to do was bring things back a little closer and revive a better strategy that would be a safer plan going forward for everyone.

It allowed us to strategize on how we would continue online building relationships with current clients and those to come to our website, revising our way of continuing with our training sessions safely and effectively to fulfill the need that was still ongoing. 

Even outside of that process, our biggest was with funding to keep the foundation going and helping those clients that were still approaching us in need of a Service Dog.

We saw daily the major impact that not only we were feeling but those businesses that were permanently having to close their doors from the financial impact that COVID took on their businesses.

Again, we knew the severity of the challenges that we were going to face but with the passion behind our foundations’ board members alike, we were not going to allow anything to stand in our way of moving forward to keep helping those in need. 

Are There Any Partnerships Or Collaborations That Saber Life Foundation Has Formed With Other Organizations Or Agencies In The Community?

We have not collaborated with any other businesses or agencies at this time to form a partnership. This current decision has been in place due to there are still many businesses that are struggling with their own financial ability to stay afloat even after COVID this has not been an ideal option for us up to this point in time.

Not at all that there could be a change in the near future if potentially a good fit to move forward. We have been approached by a couple in the past that were not local businesses or not well established, so it was decided at that time that was not the best timing with COVID and its impact, nor a good fit to partner with.

What Are The Future Plans And Goals For Saber Life Foundation, And How Can The Community Help Support These Initiatives?

From the very start of our nonprofit, it has always been our ultimate goal to provide a Custom-Trained Service Dog to every individual we encounter in need, never to have to turn someone away for any reason, especially for any financial reason, to obtain a Service Dog.

Ultimately, it’s always been an unspoken goal for me, as the founder, to see our foundation able to grow and expand all across the lower 48 states.

In the last year, 2022, we have now started to do just that with two placements in Louisiana and in Texas.

With the sharing of their journey with other families and individuals across social media and word of mouth, we have had many other applicants and individuals from the lower southern and northern states reaching out requesting more information on how they can obtain a Service Dog through our foundation.  

We want to potentially in due time obtain the funding needed to help support our additional long-term goals allowing us to open Sister hubs of our foundation to help support those needs in all 48 states or surrounding areas.

With our families that have gone through the process to completion of our program, several have already started volunteering their time and energy in their cities and towns to spread the word about our foundation, with hopes to potentially open sister hubs with our families that we have served as volunteers helping run these sister hubs in their very own towns/surrounding cities.

Connect With Saber Life Foundation here:

Address: 729 Laughlin Ridge Pineville, Missouri 64856

Phone: 417.365.6917

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Wondrousdrifter.com is thankful to Saber Life Foundation for the interview.

Check out this pages for the list of animal shelters in St. Louis, Missouri, animal shelters in Branson, Missouri, animal shelters in Kansas City, Missouri, and animal shelters in Springfield, Missouri.

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