As a proud ally of the United States military and those who serve, Early Times Distillery in the Louisville suburb of Shively took action to get involved and show their support.
The people at Early Times also happen to love dogs. So what could be a finer union than helping veterans get connected with service dogs?
In 2016, the folks at Brown-Forman Corporation, the parent company of Early Times, produced a documentary titled Reinforcements, which was written, produced and directed by Louisville-based Coury Deeb. The film follows a young man who has recently returned to civilian life after military service in Afghanistan. The man is having a hard time with the transition and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD. He becomes acquainted with a veteran who has been in his shoes, and the two make a life-changing road trip. Along the way, they meet other veterans, stop at Early Times, and eventually make it to K9s for Warriors, an organization that trains service dogs for former military personnel.
The 27-minute documentary, which has won several awards from film festivals, shines a light on the impact a dog can make in the life of someone suffering from PTSD, as well as what it takes to train a service dog.
The cost of training is about $25,000, and it takes three to six months to get a dog to the level necessary to be of assistance to the veteran.
“We train the dogs to retrieve items, alert their owner if someone is approaching, and wake up their owner if they are having a nightmare,” said Tahoma Guiry of K9s for Warriors in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Guiry said that, once the dog has been trained, it is paired with a service member who comes to the facility for three weeks of bonding.
“We have to teach them how to use the dog to help them through,” she said.
K9s for Warriors matches approximately 144 veterans and dogs each year, but Guiry said they train many more dogs than that because about 40 percent of them do not make it through the rigorous program. She said there are many levels of criteria the dogs must master, and if they cannot accomplish every single one, they are not eligible to graduate from the program.
Over the last few years, Early Times has donated more than $200,000 to K9s for Warriors, but this year, the people at Early Times decided to take it one step further: They actually supplied the dog.
“We didn’t want to just donate money this year,” said Dallas Cheatham, senior brand manager at Early Times. “So we went in a different direction and adopted a dog from the Kentucky Humane Society.”
What they got was a spunky, 10-month-old German Shepherd mix that was found at a rural shelter. They christened him Earl, and Cheatham and her family fostered him for a few months as he waited for his turn to go through K9s for Warriors training program.
Earl made many trips to the distillery, where he proved to be quite popular.
“When he came to work with me, it was a great opportunity for him to get used to the public,” Cheatham said. “Plus, he makes friends everywhere he goes.”
Dallas and her family drove Earl to Florida at the end of summer so that he could begin training.
“As much as we knew what we were getting into, a foster dog just becomes part of your family,” she said. “But we feel so good about this program, we just know Earl will make a great service dog.”
K9s for Warriors is an award-winning nonprofit organization dedicated to providing expertly trained service dogs to military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Founded by the mother of a veteran with PTSD, the program has graduated more than 160 veterans, pairing them with rescue dogs trained to recognize symptoms of PTSD and ready to respond by performing tasks that lessen the distress associated with the disorder. For more information, visit k9sforwarriors.org.