SuperGrant Helps Retrieving Independence Train Service Dogs, Change Lives

The phrase "man's best friend" has been used to describe relationships between dogs and humans for generations, but this might be the best example of all.
On Monday, the Nashville Predators Foundation empowered by SmileDirectClub announced Retrieving Independence - a nonprofit that breeds, trains and places service dogs with people who are living with physical, mental or emotional disability - as the recipient of the second SuperGrant of the 2020-21 season. This SuperGrant, totaling $47,000, will be awarded Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena when the Preds face the Stars, and to say the organization is grateful would be an understatement.

"Everybody's just so thankful, and anytime you're recognized like this, it's just a validation of your work," Retrieving Independence CEO Jessica Petty said. "We all sort of need those things to keep us going, and it's really just a bright spot for us after a really hard year, as it's been for everybody."
Founded in 2012, Retrieving Independence has built their service dog training program through the help of volunteers and their partnership with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, which allows the nonprofit to work with inmates at Tennessee prisons to train and socialize dogs for placement.
"One of the things that really makes us unique is - I guess twofold - but the fact that we work within the prison system, and there are other service organizations that do that, but the thing that really makes us stand apart from those is that we employ counselors," Petty said. "We believe we're the only service dog organization in the United States that does that. So, while we're there training the inmate handlers on how to train the dogs and all of that, we also have a counselor there the entire time, so we offer a lot of group therapy and one-on-one sessions with them because our training is through positivity… We are a service dog organization, but we're also all about restoring dignity and offering rehabilitation to people that are incarcerated."
The SuperGrant has been used to purchase safety crates that are five-star-crash-test-safety rated, and a new van that transports multiple people and up to four dogs, which will allow for a much safer and efficient way to transport animals - and humans - to where they need to be.
And for those who have received or will soon receive a dog, the benefits are life changing.

"They often just come to us wanting a service dog, but as they get engaged with us and learn about the training program… they become part of something bigger as well," Petty said. "That dog offers them increased independence, but they also know that they have taken the hard work that these inmate trainers have put in for two years and really take it out to the real world to make their lives better and to be advocates for what service dogs can do."
At the start of the Retrieving Independence program, every inmate completes 30 hours of intensive training before joining a two-person team and receiving a puppy that will live, work and train with them for 14 to 20 months under the direct supervision of Retrieving Independence trainers and staff. Following their graduation ceremony, each dog is placed with a person in need of seizure or diabetic alerts, mobility assistance or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder support.
"We place our dogs to people that obviously have mobility issues, but we also place our dogs with people that are living with mental disabilities," Petty said. "A lot of times, people think about posttraumatic stress, but as mental health becomes more of an acceptable thing to talk about, we're placing dogs with people that are living with debilitating anxiety, or who have suffered very traumatic events and have become agoraphobic and they're afraid to leave their houses and different things. I just think it's so amazing, the power of a dog, and what they can do for somebody and somebody that maybe has almost given up on their own life; once they have that dog, they'll do anything for the dog. They'll get up and exercise, they'll get up and get out of the house and they'll do things that they never would have done for themselves because they loved that dog and that dog loves them."
For Petty and those at Retrieving Independence, they know the difference their work makes in the lives of those who need it most, but to be recognized from an outside organization adds a new sense of gratification that what they're doing really does make a difference.
The dogs won't know the van they're riding in is one of the best and safest money can buy, but when they meet their new companion, they'll be filled with happiness, and that feeling will be reciprocated.
Man's best friend, indeed.
"For us, personally, to be recognized, it's great validation of what we're doing," Petty said. "We're in year nine, and a lot of nonprofits don't make it past the first few years because funding is a challenge. Especially in this last year, people have lost their jobs, some people lost their lives; there's just so much that's happened. So, for us to get the support, it really moves our spirits a little bit after a difficult year. And just joy that we all have, the van is outfitted now, like when we all pulled up, we saw the Preds logo on the van with our logo, and just was like, 'Wow, that's really amazing.' We're so appreciative."
For more information on Retrieving Independence and getting involved as a volunteer,
visit RIServiceDogs.org
. Fans may also follow @PredsFoundation on social media or
click here for details
surrounding the SuperGrant program.