Pets for Vets at Washington Area Humane Society allows veterans to adopt a furry friend for free
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Jesse Stenger, center, and Washington Area Humane Society employee Jared Bills visit with Toby, the pitbull-terrier mix Stenger adopted. Stenger and Bills are both veterans of the U.S. Army infantry.
Brandon Rumbaugh, a Marine veteran and double amputee as a result of wounds suffered in Afghanistan, visits the dog kennels at Washington Area Humane Society during the Vaccines for Vets' Pets event July 22. Rumbaugh is assisted in his daily routine by a highly trained service dog.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Washington Area Humane Society employee Chelsie Fleegal welcomes U.S. Army Desert Storm veteran Steven Adams and his mountain cur, Otter, at the July 22 Vaccines for Vets’ Pets event. Adams is the veterans services manager for Washington City Mission.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Tank, the bulldog companion of U.S. Navy veteran Bill Kellington, greets U.S. Army veteran George Ash at Washington Area Humane Society July 22. Former service members assembled with their animals at the Vaccines for Vets’ Pets event hosted by the society.
Brandon Rumbaugh, a Marine veteran and double amputee as a result of wounds suffered in Afghanistan, visits the dog kennels at Washington Area Humane Society during the Vaccines for Vets' Pets event July 22. Rumbaugh is assisted in his daily routine by a highly trained service dog.
Marine veteran Brandon Rumbaugh gets a kiss of approval from Toby, an adopted pitbull-terrier at Washington Area Humane Society's Vaccines for Vets' Pets event July 22. Rumbaugh is a double amputee as a result of wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan. He is assisted in his daily routine by a highly trained service dog.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Marine veteran Brandon Rumbaugh gets a kiss of approval from Toby, an adopted pitbull-terrier at Washington Area Humane Society’s Vaccines for Vets’ Pets event July 22. Rumbaugh is a double amputee as a result of wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan. He is assisted in his daily routine by a highly trained service dog, a Belgian malinois.
Navy veteran Bill Kellington keeps a firm grip on his enthusiastic bulldogs, Tank and Roxi, as he brings them to the Washington Area Humane Society's Vaccines for Vets' Pets event July 22. Kellington is a regular visitor at the society, volunteering each week to help walk the shelter dogs.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
U.S. Navy veteran Bill Kellington consoles his bulldog, Roxi, while vet tech Barbara Lyle administers a rabies vaccination at the July 22 Vaccines for Vets’ Pets event held at Washington Area Humane Society.
Jesse Stenger said he wouldn’t trade his new best friend for anything in the world.
The 81-year-old Finleyville man and his new best friend, an 18-month-old pit bull-terrier mix named Toby, have been together since they were introduced in February at Washington Area Humane Society on Route 136 in North Strabane Township. The U.S. Army veteran adopted Toby through the humane society’s Pets for Vets program.
Stenger, who served in Hawaii as part of the 25th Infantry Division from 1960 to 1962, said he has had dogs all of his life. Toby is named for his predecessor, named by Stenger’s late wife for country singer Toby Keith. Nancy Stenger died of cancer about four years ago. The first Toby died after her death, so when Stenger got another dog, he decided to give it the same name in their memory.
“He is such a nice boy,” Stenger said of Toby II. “He hangs on me like glue.
“He’s got the full run of the house,” he added. “He found heaven when he came to me.”
The program was started about 10 years ago by a volunteer at the humane society, said Kelly Proudfit, WAHS executive director.
“It is a program to give our veterans companionship,” Proudfit added. “The first adoption is free, whether a cat or dog. The veteran just has to go through the adoption process.
“We have wonderful donors who have given money for the program over the last few years,” she said. “We typically have three to five dogs or cats adopted a month from the program. I’d like to see more.”
Proudfit said she has dropped off fliers about the program at the recently opened Crabtree-Kovacicek Patriot House for veterans at Washington City Mission so they become aware of the program.
Steven Adams, manager of veterans’ services at the Patriot House, said his dog, Otter, is one his best buddies. He got the dog about five months ago at the humane society.
“I do have post-traumatic stress disorder,” said Adams, an Army veteran who fought in Desert Storm while deployed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the early 90s. “When I get anxious or jumpy, he calms me right down.”
His wife, Monica, also loves the dog and how he helps her husband.
Adams plans to bring some of the veterans who are at Patriot House to the humane society so they can help care for the animals in the kennels waiting for a second chance at having a family.
“Being around animals is therapy in itself,” Adams added.
Jared Bills of Washington has been working as a kennel assistant at the humane society after spending six years as an infantryman in the Army. A fan of German shepherds, Labrador retrievers and huskies, Bills hopes to eventually get another dog after he settles into his own place. He would eventually like to become a K-9 officer. While he can’t get a dog right away, he said his girlfriend recently adopted a black Labrador.
Bill Kellington of Munhall and his girlfriend, Nicole Winfield, recently stopped to take advantage of a discounted rabies vaccination offered at the shelter for their two Old English bulldogs, Roxie and Tank. Kellington, a Navy veteran who served in Tennessee and on a ship, is a volunteer at the shelter.
“I like this humane society, which is why I volunteer,” Kellington said. “Pets lower your stress level.”
“I think it is wonderful that they give the pet for free,” Winfield said. “The veterans need companionship.”
George Ash and his wife, Marilyn, stopped out last month to grab a bite to eat during the recent vaccination event and support the program. Hog Fathers sold barbecue, and chances were available on gift baskets to raise money for the program. Ash is the proud owner of a 27-pound cat named Pie Gigante, which is Spanish for big foot.
“He is convinced he is the king of the world,” Ash said of the cat he adopted several years ago from a shelter in the San Francisco Bay area of California.
Ash, who is a former paratrooper, said while he is not currently looking for a companion for his feline, if he does it will be through the humane society.
“This is a great program,” he said.
Brandon Rumbaugh, a combat-wounded double amputee from Uniontown, visited the humane society in the hope of getting a smaller dog to join his Belgian Malinois service dog, Sam. He got Sam about a year ago after his home had been broken into several times.
While his fiancée, Casey Sanderson, likes big dogs, Rumbaugh would also like a lapdog.
“He weighs 120 pounds and is almost 6 feet long when he stretches out in our bed,” Rumbaugh said of Sam. “He is just a big baby.”
Rumbaugh, an advocate for veterans and a motivational speaker, spent two years in Walter Reed after he lost his left leg and right leg below the knee when he stepped on an improvised explosive device while serving with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan in September 2010.
Research has shown service dogs do provide emotional support to veterans who suffer from PTSD, Rumbaugh said, adding the animals are especially beneficial to veterans who live alone.
“And they provide a good transition when they come home from service wondering what they are going to do now,” Rumbaugh said. “Caring for the dog gives them that responsibility.”
Veterans need proof of their military service to qualify.
Veterans can stop during regular business hours at the shelter. For more information, call the shelter at 724-222-PETS or check the website at www.washingtonpashelter.org.