Service canines for veterans, first responders and family members

Rescuing lives as a team for life.

This is a nonprofit organization, the employer ID # is: 39-2036933

We rescue canines headed for euthanasia and pair them with veterans and first responders in crisis — then train them together, as a team, for life. Not just a veteran or first responder helped, and not just their family — the canine is rescued too. Everyone in that team is rescued for life, at no cost to the client. We only accept donations.

Donate Seeing how our process works
Or just call us — 210-541-2319
Rescuing Lives Inc.
Two lives, one team

They rescue each other.

A shelter canine is out of time — days from being euthanized, often for no reason other than nobody came for it. A veteran or first responder is carrying PTSD, anxiety, depression, or the kind of isolation that quietly takes lives. Two lives, both running out of road. We bring them together, train them into a team, and give them back to each other for good — and in learning to rely on one another, they each make it through.

This isn't adoption, and it isn't fostering. There's no rehoming and no replacing — only a partnership built to last a lifetime. Veterans and first responders already understand what a team truly means: survival. A team is what carried them through the worst days of their service, and it's exactly what we rebuild here — this time with a canine who has their back and needs them just as much.

The training process, from kill shelter to lifelong team

From a kill shelter to a forever team.

Every partnership follows the same path — built on time, honesty, and commitment from both ends of the leash.

1

Rescue

We pull canines that are about to be euthanized — often for no reason other than nobody came for them. Breed doesn't matter. What matters is the canine's heart.

2

Rehabilitate

Over about 90 days we get each canine medically sound, then physically sound, then socialized — comfortable around people and other canines, part of a pack, threatened by nothing.

3

Match

We introduce the canine to the veteran or first responder. If we don't already have the right one, we go to the shelter together and look first at the ones about to be put down. The right match is a connection you can feel within minutes.

4

Train together

For 8 to 20+ weeks, one hour at a time, we train the canine and the handler as a team — at home and out in the real world: parks, stores, restaurants, airports. The canine learns the handler's normal and steps in when something's wrong. The handler learns to read and care for the canine.

5

Graduate

At graduation the canine goes home for good — a certified service canine, and a partner for life.

Before training begins, we sit down together and sign a simple agreement: the canine stays in Rescuing Lives Inc.'s care until graduation. It keeps everyone accountable to the same goal.

Who we help

Veterans, first responders — and their families.

We focus on the mental and emotional side of service — PTSD, and specifically the depression, anxiety, and isolation that so often come with it, the kind that can quietly lead to suicide. Our handlers are veterans and first responders who gave everything they had and can no longer do the job they trained for. They don't need to be told their life still matters — they need a partner that proves it, every single day.

We don't stop at the individual. The family carries the weight of PTSD right alongside the veteran — the spouse, the kids, the people who live through the hard nights and the distance it can create. So we don't train the canine for one person; we train it to respond to the whole family. Everyone learns the commands, everyone builds the bond, and the canine becomes a steady presence for all of them. Most programs never do this — they stay locked on one-on-one training. It's one of the things we're proudest of.

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What we do

Service canines for the mental and emotional side of service — PTSD, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation — for veterans, first responders, and their families. It's the one lane we're in, and we're all the way in it.

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What we're not

We're not the fit for physical-disability or mobility canines, autism and developmental service canines, or tactical working K9s. And this is different from an emotional support animal — an ESA offers comfort, but it isn't trained to spot a crisis and step in. Ours are.

How we train

Communication, never pain.

Three things every canine needs — and three things we hold ourselves to as trainers.

Trust & respect

A canine gives respect when it gets respect. That doesn't mean letting it get away with anything — a canine wants to know its boundaries and what's expected of it. But it never comes through fear or force. Earn the trust, hold the standard, and the canine chooses to work with you.

Consistency

The same approach every day, no matter how the trainer feels walking in. A canine that's welcome on the couch one day and scolded for it the next has no idea where it stands — and that confusion turns straight into anxiety. Consistency is what makes a canine feel safe enough to do its job.

Calm

Whatever you're carrying that day — stress, bad news, a rough morning — stays outside the training. Canines read tone, body language, and emotion better than most people do. Bring chaos to a session and the canine absorbs it, so we stay steady and let the canine stay steady too.

We use a Martingale collar — no metal biting into a canine's throat, ever, and no pain as a shortcut. Training a service canine isn't about breaking it into obedience; it's a conversation between equals, where the canine learns to read you and you learn to read the canine. Plenty of handlers arrive used to harsher methods and leave believers — because it simply works better, and because the bond it builds is the entire point.

Everything we do is grounded in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under it, a service canine has to be three things: medically sound, physically sound, and steady enough in temperament to learn, to respond to its handler, and to never be a nuisance or a danger to anyone around it. That last piece — the temperament and the training behind it — is where the bulk of the work lives, and it's the line between a pet and a true service animal.

The partnership in action

What your canine actually does for you.

A trained service canine isn't just company. It's reading you every second of the day.

It starts with your baseline — your normal body temperature, your scent, your tone of voice, the way you carry yourself when everything's fine. Your canine learns that baseline cold. So the moment you drift from it — when anxiety spikes, when anger rises, when a wave of depression starts to pull you under — the canine knows, often before you feel it yourself. It reads the change in your body the way you'd read a change in the weather.

When that happens, the canine's job is to interrupt. It paws at your leg, leans its weight into you, nudges your hand — not at whatever's in front of you, but at you. That break in focus is the whole point: for a second the spiral loses its grip, your attention lands on the canine, and the moment that was about to swallow you passes. Then the two of you reset, together.

And it runs both ways. When your canine needs you — a crowded room, fireworks, a loud noise it can't place — you're the one who steadies it. That's what makes it a team and not just a tool. You each learn to watch out for the other, and neither one goes through the hard moments alone.

The story behind it

Built from experience, not a textbook.

The founder of Rescuing Lives Inc. with Bal

Rescuing Lives Inc. didn't start in a classroom. Its founder spent years as a horse trainer and breeder — including horses that ran the Triple Crown — where he learned a truth that carries straight into his work today: you don't break an animal into obedience. A horse can kill you; you earn its trust, you respect it, and you meet it as an equal. The same holds for a canine. It isn't a dumb animal to be commanded — it's a highly intelligent partner that wants to know what you need from it, and it will give you everything once that trust is real.

He also brings something that can't be taught: he's walked this road himself. As a veteran who understands the fight firsthand, he knows exactly what a veteran or first responder carries home — and what the right canine, trained the right way, can give back. That's not theory to him. It's lived.

He built Rescuing Lives Inc. to do one thing: save the canine and the person together, as a team — and to be honest with people about what that really takes. No sugarcoating, no all-good-news. Just the real work, and the real difference it makes.

The founder with the canines at the Boerne property
A veteran himself — training the canines he rescues, at home in Boerne.
Meet the founder

Hear it in his own words.

Who he is, how he trains, what the process actually looks like, and who this is for — straight from him, before you ever pick up the phone.

My passion

Why I do this.

Rescuing Lives is a passion driven by a big problem today: the sight of canines suffering from abuse, neglect and starvation, or sitting on a euthanasia list — the loneliness of God’s wingless angels, who are here to help us humans get through the darkest times of our lives.

My passion is driven by another big problem: veterans, first responders and their family members facing the challenge of living, daily and nightly, through no fault of their own — caused by being the brave men and women who did their duty abroad and here at home in our communities. Some now suffer daily from PTSD, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation.

A solution: service canines and handler training.

The result: the canine gets a loving human companion and a safe, secure, warm forever home. At the same time, with the same effort, the veteran, first responder and their family have a canine angel interacting with them every day — keeping them from harming themselves or the people they love.

Do you know someone close to you, or are you yourself in need of this partnership — one that focuses on rescuing your life from thoughts of harming yourself or others, and rescuing the life of a canine?

Please do not hesitate to contact me, or any other organization that can give you the support you need right now — and even a service canine.

You can message me here, or call or text me directly at 210-541-2319. Just take the step. Take the action to help yourself.

Our canines

The lives behind the mission.

The canines working today, and the ones coming up behind them.

Current service canines

Bolto, a male husky working in his service vest

Bolto

Bolto is a three-year-old Alaskan husky with malamute in him who has been all the way through service canine training and works as the founder’s own service canine — still available to other veterans — and he sets the example for the rest, helping enormously with behavioral issues.

Future service canines

Autumn, a white husky rescued from being put down

Autumn

Autumn is a one-year-old Alaskan husky with malamute in her — the “blue-eyed baby” — a sweet, sharp, attentive girl who should train easily and make an excellent service canine once she goes through the course with her handler.

Pepper, a husky in our care

Pepper

Pepper is a Siberian husky around a year old, rescued near the Hill Country from a puppy mill that used her only for breeding and left her malnourished and dehydrated — she was taken straight to the vet, cleared of heartworms, and is now healthy, extremely smart, sweet and attentive, and headed for an amazing future as a service canine.

A young female Belgian Malinois in training at Rescuing Lives Inc.

Not yet named

A female Belgian Malinois puppy, still growing into her name — bright, bold and already showing the drive the breed is known for.

A young female Belgian Malinois resting between training sessions

Not yet named

A female Belgian Malinois puppy, sister to the one beside her — softer, watchful, and taking it all in before she makes her move.

Fresh every month

The Canine Corner.

Training notes, updates from the kennel, and whatever is on my mind this month.

Coming soon. I’m putting the first one together now — training notes, how the canines are coming along, and whatever else is worth passing on. Check back shortly.

Q&A

Questions from the community.

Questions people have asked, answered in my own words.

Why is Rescuing Lives Inc. different from other rescue programs?

Because this was never built as a business. Every part of it exists to put a lifeline in the hands of a veteran, a first responder, or a family member who needs one — and that lifeline is a team: the handler and the canine, both of them, together. There is no cost and no fee for any of it. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and everything we do runs on donations.

What is the secret that makes Rescuing Lives an effective program?

The secret is the team attitude we build between the handler and the canine. They learn to understand each other, to communicate, and to hold each other up — so that when a crisis comes, neither one of them faces it alone. That is the whole thing. Not obedience, not commands. Two of them operating as one, built an hour at a time.

Does the handler keep the canine during and after training, and care for it?

Yes. The canine is yours from the beginning. You feed it, you care for it, and you are responsible for its welfare the entire way through — and that is not a chore we hand you, it is the training itself. Every day you spend looking after that canine is a day the two of you are practicing the tasks that make you a team.

What happens if the handler doesn’t complete the 8 to 20 weeks of training?

The handler signs an agreement and puts down a $1,000 deposit, which is returned in full the day the training is completed. If the training isn’t finished, for any reason, that deposit stays with Rescuing Lives Inc. and goes straight back into the program. It isn’t a penalty. It is a commitment — and it is what keeps a rescued canine from being left halfway through a life it was promised.

Is there follow-up support after the training is complete?

Yes. We don’t disappear at graduation. Reach out any time by email, or use the form at the bottom of this page, and you will hear back from us.

What you walk away with

A partner, and the proof to go anywhere with them.

Everything below is included — and free — as part of the program.

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Service canine ID card

A photo ID for your canine showing it's certified and trained as a service canine.

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Matching handler ID

A matching ID for you, proving you're the trained, legal handler. Together the two IDs mean no one — at an airport, a train, a store — can question your team.

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After-graduation support

Graduation isn't goodbye. When a new situation or environment comes up, we're still here to help you and your canine through it.

The honest part

We don't do all good news.

Real training means being straight about the hard parts, too.

Every canine is microchipped back to us. If a canine is ever abused, abandoned, or can no longer serve, it comes home to us — no questions asked.

If something comes up the training didn't cover — a run-in with another canine, a situation no one could predict — we bring you back for remedial training at no charge. We cover as much as we can, but no one can cover everything.

The truth is simple: this is a team effort, and you get back what you put in.

Get started

If you're ready, here's how to begin.

For veterans and first responders living with PTSD, anxiety, depression, or suicidal ideation.

What to bring:

  • ✓Veterans: a DD-214 (honorable or medical discharge)
  • ✓First responders: a release from your department
  • ✓Everyone: medical documentation certifying a qualifying disability

We'll sit down for an intake — about two hours — to make sure it's the right fit. Then we get to work.

Reach out to start
Common questions

Questions we hear a lot.

Is there a cost?

No. Training is completely free for qualifying veterans and first responders. The whole program runs on donations.

Who qualifies?

Veterans and first responders living with PTSD, anxiety, depression, or suicidal ideation. Veterans bring a DD-214; first responders bring a release from their department; both bring medical documentation of a qualifying disability.

Is this adoption or fostering?

Neither. It's a lifelong partnership between a handler and a canine, trained together as a team. No rehoming, no replacing.

What breeds do you work with?

Any. Breed doesn't matter — what matters is the connection between the canine and the handler.

Can my family be part of it?

Yes — and we encourage it. We train the canine to respond to your whole family, and everyone learns the commands together.

I know a canine that needs rescuing — can you help?

For now we rescue directly from kill shelters. If you know a canine about to be euthanized, tell us — that tip can save a life.

Get in touch

Reach out

Rather talk to a person? Call 210-541-2319.

Whether you're a veteran or first responder ready to begin, want to donate, or know a canine that needs rescuing — start here.

Your message goes straight to trainer@rescuinglives22inc.com.