- Linda Bobot: Hi, come on in.
[dog barks]
- Linda Bobot is a certified professional dog trainer.
[dogs bark excitedly]
For more than 20 years,
Linda's calm approach has worked wonders.
- There we go.
Very good, there we go.
- She knows a lot about training.
She's taught me a lot.
Given me things to teach the dog.
- Take it.
- Her program is awesome.
I'm really glad that the program exists.
- The program is called 'HAVEN':
Hounds And Vets Empowered Now.
- Good, excellent. [laughs warmly]
- HAVEN serves veterans deployed to combat zones
and those with service-connected disabilities.
- Any time I'm with the veterans in the training class, I'll say,
"I can talk to you 'til tomorrow about dogs,
"but I don't walk your walk.
I don't walk your walk."
The person who left home when they enlisted
isn't the person who came back.
I think that's a real struggle.
The dogs become their buddies
as they battle back into everyday life.
- As a Marine, Erik Smith saw two tours of duty in Iraq.
- Coming back to normal life is difficult
because it's so different,
and it can be pretty stressful making that transition.
There you go, good!
- Today, Erik's dog Copper provides him a sense of safety.
- Solo, come.
- There, oh, there we go.
Excellent, good!
- Stationed in South Korea,
Cheldon Payton left the military for medical reasons.
Cheldon's dog, Solo, gives him purpose and companionship.
- It's motivating for me.
It gives me something to do.
Wake up in the morning.
- Motivation starts here
at the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee,
where if the vets don't already have a dog,
it's their first stop.
- Really pay attention to the dog
who's trying to get your attention,
who's paying attention to you.
The dog has a story.
The vet has a story.
And maybe there's some connection there being made.
- Come on, darling, - Go ahead, John, go.
- I think that opens up something here
that they might have thought was not there anymore.
- For Linda, a sense of responsibility,
a sense of duty to her brother.
- When my brother was 22
and in the Navy, he committed suicide.
And so, I can place that and the effect that has on family.
- That was 45 years ago.
Linda trains those who served our country
and their service dogs in his honor,
but she's not alone.
- I was walking my dogs, listening to the radio,
thinking of my brother.
The song came on.
If I was struggling with something, I'd get in my car.
The song will come on.
- The song is called "Precious Moments" by The Three Degrees.
- So, I started thinking, "Okay, is this in my imagination?"
So, I looked it up.
It was released three months before my brother died
on my birthday.
The first words are, "When will I see you again?"
["Precious Moments" by The Three Degrees] * When will I see you again?
And that's why I always tied it into my brother
because that's your thought when you lose somebody.
"When will I see you again?"
* Share precious moments
And I still heard this song twice last week,
so when it comes on, and I hear that music,
I say, "Thank you."
In training, there's a keep going signal
that is my keep going signal.
It's like, "Don't give up."
Yeah, and then...
- Linda has never given up.
She provides positive reinforcement and training
to veterans for free.
- Oh, very nice, good, very good.
I can say I am probably
the best-paid person in that room.
There does come a point in life where you want to say,
"Does what I do matter?"
- Linda donates her time, but her dreams will cost money.
Someday, she hopes to build HAVEN a permanent home.
- My goal is having veterans
who are interested in becoming trainers
so that at some point in the future,
HAVEN will be totally run by veterans.
- The unique 16-week training program
creates a strong bond of trust
between the dog and the veteran.
- Linda Bobot: Excellent.
- I have friends who are vets across the U.S.,
and programs like this don't exist for them.
And they're pretty jealous that something like that is here.
Just him being around me, like,
really helps with my anxiety and my stress level.
- We never say, "They're gonna cure or fix anything."
They're not.
But I'm seeing how the dogs
are helping the veterans move forward in life.
I just feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing.
["Precious Moments" by The Three Degrees]