Canines with a Cause Foundation Incorporated

“A draft of the form 990 is reviewed by the treasurer in detail before filing. A draft of the form 990 is provided to the full board before filing.”

“The board of directors considers the overall reasonability of the salary paid to the executive director based on salaries paid for similar positions at similar organizations an what the organization is currently able to afford. The board of directors establishes the executive director's salary independent from the exective director. The deliberation and determination of the executive director's compensation is contemporaneously documented in the board minutes.”

“The organizations governing documents are available upon request by contacting the organization's offices during regular business hours. The organization's 990 is available through www.guidestar.org.”

“The mission of canines with a cause is to create sustainable programs and processes to effectively and holistically treat combat veterans with ptsd with well-trained, specialized service dogs that provide emotional therapy as companions. By rescuing dogs from kill shelters and using prison inmates as a means to train, we essentially save three lives: the veteran, the dog, and the inmate.”

“One in four veterans returning from combat suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), depression or anxiety. Veterans are coming home with feelings of abandonment and having difficulty adjusting to civilian life; a combat stress relief or service dog helps them have normal lives, assisting in the transition. Canines with a cause (cwac) was established in may of 2011 with the mission of saving dogs from local high-kill shelters and training them for veterans in need. One of our main challenges was keeping costs down for training these dogs. A well-trained service dog can cost between 25,000-40,000. Cwac provides training classes for veterans, enabling them to develop skills needed to train their own dogs and become an experienced handler. Training also creates a bond between the handler and his/her dog. Some of the benefits include: the veteran is able to sleep again, anxiety attacks are less frequent, they are motivated to get out of their homes and integrate back to civilian life and the unconditional and non-judgmental love received from their dog. Some of the veterans with high-level ptsd have difficulties with a dog fresh from a shelter, jumping and other bad habits affect their ptsd in a negative way. As a means to pre-train dogs for these veterans, cwac implemented a prison-based dog-training program in conjunction with the department of corrections, "pawsitive healing". Dogs live and train in the utah state prison; inmates learn a vocational skill and benefit from having the dogs as companions while they train. This program also reduces boarding and training expenses making the program more cost effective. The benefits of this program are three-fold. According to the salt lake city va hospital, between 5-7 veterans are committing suicide weekly in the northern utah area. Over 18,000 companion animals were killed in utah shelters in 2013. The inmates in the utah state prison training the dogs acquire skills necessary to support successful rehabilitation, reentry and a chance to give back, do something good with their lives. Cwac is working on a new program to increase the number of dogs rescued and trained. "pals with paws" supports families who have a child diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Cwac will provide well-trained, loving companion dogs from the "pawsitive healing" program. Dogs have been shown to lower stress for patients and caregivers. This program will also benefit siblings who often get lost in the shuffle during this difficult time. 2015 accomplishments - placed over 125 shelter dogs in loving homes through our positive healing, pawsitive partnerships and diamond in the rough programs. - expanded training program in the utah state women's prison, in which the dogs are trained by inmates for veterans suffering with post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuiries. Inmates benefit from leaning vocational skills and bonding with the dogs. They give back to society. - developed partnerships with salt lake city veterans administration and national ability center”

“Contractors 29,615 24,933 0 veterinary 5,253 0 0 dog training 77,167 0 0”