Man’s best friend helps vets find peace
- Trinity Gruenberg
- Jun 10
- 1 min read
by Trinity Gruenberg
On Tuesday, May 6, the Bertha American Legion welcomed special guests Dawn Hutmacher and Tony Carothers from Patriot Assistance Dogs (PAD) in Detroit Lakes.
Patriot Assistance Dogs is a nonprofit organization that trains rescued dogs as service dogs for Veterans living with PTSD, TBIs, and other mental health diagnoses. The dogs are provided to qualifying Veterans at no cost to the Veteran.
“A rescue dog is the most loving thing in the world because they didn’t have love, and it’s amazing how grateful they are just to have a person,” said Hutmacher
Patriot Assistance Dogs was founded by Linda Wiedewitsch, a retired police detective, in 2011. Her kids got her into 4-H, where they wanted to train puppies for the blind, and they ended up with 24. When she retired, she still wanted to work with dogs, so she opened the kennel, which also then included the pound in Detroit Lakes, the Marshmallow Animal Shelter.
Wiedewitsch’s husband is an Army veteran with PTSD, and she realized there are all these good dogs that nobody wants, and veterans could use their assistance.
The husband-and-wife team are just some of the volunteers who help train dogs.
Carothers is also a veteran who received a dog. Dennis Kirk Racing fully sponsored his dog’s training and care and asked if they could name the dog Captain Kirk which they did....