Placed in the middle of one of the nation’s biggest and most timely problems, Benjamin searches for resolution

DELRAY BEACH, FL (April 12, 2012) – Delray Beach executive and philanthropist, Arthur E. Benjamin, founder of American Dog Rescue, has recently been named Chairman of the Advisory Board for paws4people, along with its subsidiaries paws4vets, paws4prisons and paws4firstresponders. Through his new position, Benjamin hopes to continue to change families’ lives forever, and in the process, build the standards all such organizations can follow to solve three of our nation’s greatest problems by providing: service dog companionship for disabled veterans returning to the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan, and for disabled youth under 14, a low-cost supply of service dogs for disabled youth & veterans, and a low-cost way out of overcrowding the nation’s prisons, which keeps the cost of incarceration down and helps our economy.

American Dog Rescue is grateful to a 12-year-old, Kyria Henry, and her disabled Vietnam veteran dad, Terry Henry, for starting paws4people and sticking to it for the past twelve years. Thus far, the organization has trained and delivered more than 200 service dogs to qualified and needy recipients.

A leading organization in service dog training for those who need help to deal with physical and psychological disabilities, paws4people with the help of Benjamin, plans to increase assistance to our more than 600,000 vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and MST disorders in the next 5 years.

paws4people delivers a unique combination of positive benefits to all those it serves. Utilizing dogs bred for service, as well as rescues and donated dogs that qualify, paws4 organizations provide companion and service dogs for disabled youth under 14 years of age and disabled veterans.

Dogs are started on the path to service being raised and trained to perform over 100 commands in five state and federal correctional facilities by inmates who qualify for the in-demand program. The dogs may be transferred in their training to two or more of these facilities. Inmates accepted into this unique program are committed to contribute the highest levels of training. The success of both the dogs and the prisoners is exceptional. This training period can be six to 18 months.

Next, the dogs graduate on to qualified disabled recipients, and only when a dog chooses a recipient does a transfer process begin. Usually, the potential recipient takes short periods of time with the dog before the dog is permitted to leave with them.

After the transfer is made and the dog and disabled person team is formed, the recipient with the dog continue to train at outside private facilities until certified as a companion or service dog team.  This certification, if at the service level, must be renewed yearly and ability for public-access demonstrated each year.

One potential private facility that the process of training and public-access certification may be completed at is the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Dog Assistance Training Program, a vital part of the paws4 network of organizations. This unique college program is the only one of its kind in the United States. In this program, students receive 12 credits for learning service dog training and help finish the training process for one of these dogs and with its recipient, and/or living with a service dog in training, giving it public-access experience and then transferring it to a qualified disabled recipient.

Those who complete the full four semesters not only receive a service dog trainer certificate from paws4 but receive their own service dog to employ in in-demand careers of special education, physical therapy, psychology social work and other integrative professions.

Another private facility that offers both an opportunity for the dog to complete their certifications and a chance for former inmate-trainers to build their own businesses in partnership with paws4people is “The Dog Wizard”, a paws4 for-profit “partner organization.” Here the training process once again can be completed for the dog and its qualified disabled recipient, but uniquely also present a former inmate a chance to build their own self-employed future and to contribute back to the paws4 organizations through shared ownership of a business that completes the total paws4 loop.

To help support American Dog Rescue and paws4people, please visit www.americandogrescue.org.

American Dog Rescue (ADR) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to finding a home for every adoptable dog in the United States. American Dog Rescue is committed to placing healthy dogs in permanent homes that are the right fit for the animal and its family. Donations can be made by visiting www.americandogrescue.org/donate or calling (801) 944-3023.

paws4people consists of paws4prisons, paws4vets, paws4firstresponders, and other paws4 brands contribute standards to solve three of our nation’s highest needs, companion and service dogs for 600,000 PTSD and MST veterans returning to the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan in the next five years, a low-cost supply of service dogs for disabled youth and a low-cost way out of overcrowding prisons which keeps the cost to us all endless.