Giving Tuesday: How you can help Southeastern Guide Dogs’ mission

This Giving Tuesday, you can help Southeastern Guide Dogs continue their mission of helping those with vision loss continue to live lives full of adventure and fun as one of a handful of organizations around the country training and providing service dogs.

Located in Palmetto, Florida, Southeastern has been assisting those with vision loss and educating the public about the roles and tasks of service dogs since the early 1980s.

Katie McCoy is one recipient of a Southeastern dog in the yellow Labrador Retriever named Bristol, and besides their daily lives together, the pair has also done everything from hiking in the Virginia mountains to going to Walt Disney World.

“Bristol never lets the darkness come crashing down, and she is always there to carry me,” McCoy said. “She makes me feel less alone, and she is always there telling me I can do anything I set my mind to. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Here’s how you can help the Southeastern Guide Dogs mission this Giving Tuesday.

Additionally, some Southeastern dogs are trained to assist military veterans dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Southeastern uses a variety of training exercises including agility work and treadmill sessions, or swims at the on-campus Aquatics Center, to keep their dogs minds and bodies active and alert in order to best serve their human partners.

Costs and services for recipients are provided free of charge, but this is possible because of generous donors, and this year for Giving Tuesday, all gifts will be doubled.

It usually takes around two years of Puppy College for a dog to be ready to be matched with a human, and those whose temperaments aren’t quite right are often used for breeding purposes.

To donate, see this page on the Southeastern website.