From Puppies Behind Bars to K9s behind the line

HARLEM VALLEY — There’s an extraordinary program for wounded war veterans known as Wounded Warriors. The project is “a charity organization empowering veterans and their families” meant “to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation’s history,” according to its website.In its mission to honor and empower veterans, Wounded Warriors seeks to: “raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members; help injured service members aid and assist each other; and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.”To help meet that end is a program called Puppies Behind Bars (PBB), which trains prison inmates to raise service dogs that are then donated to wounded Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. PBB also trains dogs that detect explosive devises for law enforcement.Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who lives in New York City and has a weekend home in Lakeville, Conn., is the president and founder of Puppies Behind Bars.“We started 18 years ago doing guide dogs for the blind,” she said. “Then in 2006 we started doing service dogs for veterans.”While she credits veterinarian Thomas Lane of Florida for coming up with the idea of guide dogs being raised in prison, Stoga said the idea for raising dogs in prison for wounded servicemen was her own.“I felt as an American, I should be doing something to help the war efforts and I knew service dogs helped disabled people and some servicemen were coming back with missing limbs,” she said, “and we specialize in post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries and felt we could train dogs to help veterans with physical disabilities and veterans with invisible wounds.”So far PBB has paired 75 veterans with dogs. Doing so costs the veteran nothing, but training and preparing a dog for service runs about $40,000 per dog. That’s why PBB fundraises in any way it can.Recently the Millerton American Legion Women’s Auxiliary paid $3,000 (it now costs $6,000) to have a service dog named after Airman First Class Zachary Ryan Cuddeback, who was killed in Operation Enduring Freedom on March 2, 2011 at the age of 21, while serving in the United States Air Force in Ramstein, Germany. The Cuddeback family has roots in the Millerton and Millbrook area.Zac’s father, Robert Cuddeback, who himself served more than 28 years in the United States Army and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer Three, said he was deeply touched by the Auxiliary’s thoughtfulness.“I was extremely honored, as I am certain Zac would be as well,” said Cuddeback. “I am in awe of the PBB program and the work it does for Wounded Warriors. A lot of organizations may work with Wounded Warriors, but PBB does it in a unique way. Using prisoners to train the puppies is a phenomenal way, not only to get the puppies trained, but to allow prisoners to repay a debt to society and feel included in the American community.”Stoga agreed.“Prison is negative, no doubt about it. Even the men and women participating wish they weren’t in prison participating,” she said. “But what Puppies Behind Bars does is it gives inmates the opportunity to contribute to society while they’re incarcerated. That’s a unique opportunity to give back to the country. One inmate said, ‘I may be locked up but I’m an American too, and this is my way of helping my country.’”The training is intensive. After spending roughly 24 months learning how to become service dogs with the prisoners, PBB flies veterans in for 16 days worth of classes. The first eight days are spent in the prison with inmates and instructors; the second eight days are spent in the outside world, learning how to navigate in public with a service dog.K9 Zac went through such training. While he wasn’t deemed confident enough to be a working dog for a veteran one-on-one, he was sent to Afghanistan to be a therapy dog for the troops. He’s working with a chaplain, whom he will return to the states with and keep working with in California, “helping a lot of veterans rather than just one,” according to Stoga.Before heading to the Middle East, Cuddeback had a chance to meet his son’s namesake in Millerton.“It was humbling to meet K9 Zac for the first time,” Cuddeback said. “A wave of emotions came over me: joy, happiness, sadness and longing for my son. But, to know that K9 Zac would be helping the morale and welfare of deployed soldiers as a Unit Ministry Dog in Afghanistan was in keeping with the spirit of my son — he always provided a smile and laugh wherever he went —and I was extremely humbled.”For more information on Puppies Behind Bars go to www.puppiesbehindbars.com or call 212-680-9562.