The Gap No One Talks About
Departments spend thousands to bring therapy and service dogs onto their teams. Too often, once the dogs are placed, the ongoing care they need is overlooked.
These dogs require specialized support to stay healthy and mission-ready:
Supportive therapies for recovery and stress relief
Behavioral health and resilience training
Specialized veterinary care
Nutrition, grooming, and long-term wellness support
Without this care, dogs burn out early, develop preventable issues, or retire before their time. That hurts the dog, the handler, and the department’s investment.
Bridging The Gap
Bishop’s Mission connects donors, departments, and handlers to ensure every working dog receives the care they deserve and the support their teams need.
Education and Trainings: Education is a vital part of resilience. We provide hands-on learning opportunities for responders like K9 CPR and first aid. As well as K9 Destressing Techniques.
K9 Wellness Program: Trainers, nutritionists, groomers, and behaviorists working together to keep dogs healthy for the long haul.
Emergency Veterinary Fund: Donor-backed funding that ensures no service dog’s life is cut short by financial barriers
A study in the United Kingdom found that nearly 75 percent of dogs exhibit signs of depression or anxiety, with many of those symptoms going unrecognized by their handlers or owners.
Service K9s face even greater risk due to the emotional and physical weight of supporting first responders through repeated high stress and traumatic environments. Without proactive wellness care and recovery support, these working K9s can experience burnout that impacts both their health and their ability to serve. Bishop’s Mission exists to help prevent this by supporting the long term wellness, resilience, and readiness of service K9s so they can continue to support first responders at their best.
Because when your dogs thrive, your whole team thrives.