RAMAPO - Sweet isn't usually the first word that comes to mind when someone is talking about a pit bull, but volunteers at Hi Tor Animal Care Center can't think of any other way to describe Kasper.

When the pit bull was turned in at the Ramapo shelter in the fall, workers there knew his life up until that point wasn't good.

No more than 5 months old, Kasper weighed less than 50 pounds — when he should have been closer to 70 pounds — and was missing part of his tail, which had apparently been cut off.

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Although the details are murky, before he was left behind in the basement of a Spring Valley home, Kasper was neglected and deprived of food and water, treatment that usually renders a dog anxious or aggressive.

But Kasper?

"He was very calm, very mellow and wanted to be around people," said Lilly-Ann Wilson, a volunteer at Hi Tor, who added, "It's kind of a big deal because pit bulls usually get a bad rap as aggressive dogs and a lot of places are banning them.

"With those initial qualities, we thought he should be evaluated to see if he could go through the training to be a service dog," said Wilson.

And become a service dog he has.

After three months of working with Wilson, along with fellow shelter volunteers Donna Baker and Aby Garcia and Bergen County-based dog trainer Frank Pugliese, Kasper has gotten his red "service dog" vest.

He's also earned the honor of being the first service dog to be trained through Hi Tor's newly launched veterans assistance program, which aims to pair canines with military service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

During the Rockland Boulders recent annual Military Appreciation Night, Kasper was presented to the family of an Air Force veteran from upstate New York.

During a short ceremony that night at Palisades Credit Union Park, Wilson told Kasper: "You now have a very important job — not only to make your new daddy feel safe, but as an ambassador for your breed. You have shown us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will take this job seriously and will be the best service dog ever."

Kasper is now at his new home in Utica.

"We have already gotten updates from his new dad on how well Kasper is adjusting," Wilson said.

Though the veteran "wanted to be kept private and not in the public eye," Wilson said, "He is a wonderful guy and we couldn't have asked for a better home."

"This new program is so needed. A lot of veterans are struggling and homeless dogs can do the job. It's a matter of training them and finding them the right veteran," said Wilson, whose husband, Douglas Haydak, serves in the Army National Guard Reserves.

Using dogs as a form of therapy is still a fairly recent development, but over the last two decades many canine groups for veterans have been formed across the country.

PTSD, a condition afflicting some who have served in the military, can cause flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety.

But a service dog can help people with PTSD by sensing when their owners are having difficulty.

Once trained to recognize smells or triggers that prompt certain emotions within the veteran, service dogs can interrupt behaviors associated with anxiety, panic attacks and nightmares by alerting their owner so that he or she can start petting them.

Studies have shown than interaction with dogs can cause physical changes in blood chemistry since petting animals releases a "happiness hormone" called oxytocin.

Reputation reversal

The majority of service dogs are German shepherds, Labrador retrievers or golden retrievers, but any breed of dog can be trained to do the job.

"Pit bulls get a bad reputation. I don't know if people get them and don't train them right, or don't take care of them right, or people aren't educating themselves on what dog works for their family, but whatever the case is, we get a lot of them," said Debbie DiBernardo, president of Hi Tor's board of directors. "They're sweet dogs when they're well trained."

However, more than 700 cities in the United States have passed breed-specific laws that either regulate or outright ban pit bulls, usually after an incident makes headlines.

In New York City, where there have been stories about people being bitten by pit bulls in recent years, the breed has been banned from city Housing Authority units.

Now, more animal shelters across the country have seen an uptick in the number of pit bulls that are abandoned and wind up in their care. For instance, at Hi Tor, nearly 95 percent of the 50 dogs being sheltered are pit bulls, according to DiBernardo.

"One of our board members said: 'We have to move these dogs. We can't just let them sit here and we won't put them down. What else can we do?' We decided 'Let's put 'em to work', " DiBernardo said. "Our goal is to give service dogs for free. ... Kasper was our pilot program and it was a group effort that would not have been possible without our volunteers, staff and board."

The shelter now is gearing up to begin training its next service dog.

"It's one huge awesome program and we only see great things for it. So many dogs will get a home and veterans will be getting something they'd have to pay for somewhere else," DiBernardo said.

Founded in 1973, Hi Tor provides temporary care and shelter to lost, abandoned and unwanted animals. The shelter takes in about 2,500 animals each year.

It is funded largely through donations, though it gets some funding through local towns and the county and receives much help from volunteers.

Get involved

For more information on the veterans assistance program or to volunteer to help train/foster the next service dog, call 845-354-7900, visit hitor.org or email info@hitor.org.

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