Hundreds of dogs and their owners took part in the 26th annual Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs at Joe Sams Leisure Park in Waterdown on Friday morning.
There were 4,000 eggs packed with treats for the dogs to sniff out, all in support of National Service Dogs (NSD).
“For sure some of our sniffy breeds are rock stars at sniffing out the eggs. But for the most part, they do need assistance from their two-legged companions,” said Danielle Forbes, the executive director of National Service Dogs.
“All the money raised today will go towards providing service dogs for autistic kids, veterans and first responders with PTSD.”
Lawrence Christensen, 61, is on his second National Service Dog, a three-and-a-half-year-old black lab named Roxy.
“I came back from deployment in Afghanistan an angry person, isolated from my family…what the NSD dog has done for me is allowed me to get back out and do things with my son and my wife.”
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Christensen suffers from PTSD and says Roxy helps him get through every day.
“She comes to work with me, I’ll be at my desk and she’ll put her head on my lap or nudge me to get my attention because I’ve been working on something that is getting my anxiety up,” he said.
“She’ll bring me back to a moment where I can use my other tools to bring my levels down and able to deal with the rest of the day.”
Forbes says they are expecting to raise around $70,000 from the event for their service dog programs.
It costs about $50,000 to raise and train a National Service Dog. Donations can be made here.
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