The families paid Canines 4 Hope between 8 to 13 thousand dollars.
Each contract said there is no guarantee the dog would early detect a seizure or a sudden change in blood sugar.
Kylie is a 3-year-old black Labrador-greyhound mix O’Brien received in August 2016. He and she received training from a nonprofit organization called Mutts Mending Mankind based in Bantam.
“The biggest problem is you have people that do not have a trained dog. They’re taking untrained dogs out there and they’re causing problems,” Brodie said. “They’re saying they’re service dogs, but they’re not.”
It takes more than $50,000 to breed, raise, train, match and support a service dog trained through America’s VetDogs. After the puppies graduate from the prison training, they receive an additional three months of formal training, O’Brien said. The group then flies the veterans in and houses them for two weeks while they work with their new puppies. Veterans are never charged for the service; the organization relies largely on donations.