STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — At the Top Dogg K-9 Foundation, a little confidence, consistency, and companionship can make a difference in helping veterans find life-saving connections.
The nonprofit organization provide provides veterans who have PTSD, depression and anxiety. Veteran Antonio Merriweather is just one of about 400 veterans the non-profit has helped over the last decade.
“When I came here, I was suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety. It was about as bad as it could get," said Merriweather.
While battling an opioid addition, Merriweather said he tried everything from therapy to exercise.
"Not to say therapy doesn’t work, it does. Not to say medicine doesn't work, because it does too. But, this was the piece of the puzzle that was missing," explained Merriweather.
Blake 'Top Dogg' Rashad, the nonprofit's founder, assists veterans through his foundation because he has personally faced mental health challenges.
“I suffered from anxiety and depression all of my life. I always realized I was a lot calmer when I was around dogs," said Rashad.
Rashad spent his youth working with dogs and then was assigned to train K-9s during his time in service. Afterwards, he trained K-9s for the City of Atlanta, before opening the Top Dogg K-9 Foundation in 2011.
With 200 veterans desperately waiting to be matched with a service animal, the founder has seen a slowdown in donations.
"We have these veterans waiting on our list, eagerly waiting and wanting these dogs and financially we can’t provide the training to the dogs to give to them. And that’s frustrating," explained Rashad.
The non-profit owner is now faced with the unimaginable of having to adopt out 37 dogs, because they don't have the means to continue training them. Rashad and his partners have set forth a goal of raising $50,000 by Veteran's day in hopes of continuing their efforts.
While the daunting funding issues puts his organization at risk, Rashad sees it as only an obstacle. He said he has confidence the community will step up consistently to keep his mission on course.
Those who would like to support the Top Dogg K-9 Foundation can do so here.