Retrieving Freedom, Inc. (RFI) is a nonprofit that does exactly what its name suggests: they offer veterans, children with autism and adults and children with diabetes the chance to retrieve their freedom—through a highly trained assistance dog and a rigorous application process.
RFI breeds and trains their dogs—retrievers including Labrador and Golden—with the necessary traits for service dogs in these three markets, and for the specific person with whom the dog will be placed. The entire training process takes two years after a dog is bred.
RFI’s dogs are trained in one of two locations—Waverly, Iowa, or Senatobia, Mississippi—and the group strives to place dogs with the best-matched recipient based on screening and interaction. Following home placement, regular follow-ups are required; RFI owns the service dogs for the first year of placement to ensure the fit is right and that retrievers remain in good health. A 10-day orientation session is necessary for all recipients.
“Every hour, 22 veterans commit suicide. If we can save just one veteran with a service dog, our efforts are worth it,” says Scott Dewey, co-president of RFI’s Iowa facility.
A few points of note about the organization:
- RFI breeds and trains retrievers, which have specific traits for acting as an assistance dog, such as a natural sense to retrieve. Other considerations include solid bone structure for the support of weight-bearing loads, loving and good-natured dispositions, a combination of confidence, calmness and assertiveness and trainability.
- Costs to breed and fully train each dog average $23,500 to $25,000
- RFI is a 501(c)3 nonprofit; donations are tax deductible
- RFI requests that recipients participate in fundraising efforts and sets a goal of $5,800 per person
For more information about placement, the application process, training, FAQs or to partner with Retrieving Freedom through donations, visit retrievingfreedom.org.
