Fredericksburg Parent

www.FredericksburgParent.NET 7 on the cover on the cover Our February cover features Matthew McCollum of Spotsylvania and Grace. Grace is a service dog in training with Leashes of Valor, a local non-profit that provides highly- trained service dogs at no cost to wounded and disabled post-9/11 veterans. The photo was taken by Karen Presecan. You can see more of Karen's work at kpresecanphotography.com. Founded in 2017 by retired Marine Corps Capt Jason Haag, Leashes of Valor (LOV) is located on a 10-acre property called Axel's Place in Fredericksburg. LOV trains dogs for up to two years before pairing them with veterans. A Service Dog Saved His Life Now Heʼs Hoping to Save Others Three combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan had taken their toll on Marine Corps Capt. Jason Haag. The physical injuries were one thing—a machine gunshot wound and multiple traumatic brain injuries from bomb blasts. But the injuries no one could see hurt the most. Flashbacks. Nightmares. Debilitating anxiety. Memories of the Marines he couldn't protect, the ones who didn't come home. By 2012, on the verge of medical retirement, Haag had tried everything doctors and therapists prescribed to overcome the worst symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, from a cocktail of medications to a 30-day stay at a mental health treatment facility. Nothing worked. Until he received a service dog named Axel, a German shepherd rescued from a shelter two days before his sched- uled euthanasia. Within two months, Haag was down from more than a dozen medications to two. "To get Axel was to get past everything destructive I was doing in my life," he said. Axel, who served alongside Haag for more than a decade—even win- ning the American Humane Association's Service Dog of the Year in 2015—inspired Haag to found the service dog nonprofit Leashes of Valor in 2017. LOV trains dogs for up to two years before pairing them with veterans. Veterans spend about 10 days at Axel's Place learning how to care for and work with their dogs. Although it costs about $25,000 to raise and train a service dog, they are provided at no cost to veterans. LOV operates solely through the support of corporate sponsors and individual donors. "My service dog saved my life," Haag said. "Our goal is to pass that gift on to as many of our brothers and sisters as we can." Learn more about Leashes of Valor and how you can help support its mission at www.leashesofvalor.org Four dogs rescued from a hoarding situation last year are now training to be service dogs for veterans. USMC Capt Jason Haag and Axel.

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