Serving Heroes

“Man’s best friend” holds an invaluable role in the ranks of military and law enforcement-related operations, making life easier for those who put everything on the line for everyday citizens. When the duty is done, dogs remain a critical part of the recovery process for countless individuals across the country.

Madisonville has been home to Rebuilding Warriors for two-and-a-half years since CEO and founder Jeff Anderson relocated to his current State Street property from California with his wife, Sue.

“I felt like every third dog was going to Texas,” said Anderson when asked why he first considered the move.

Rebuilding Warriors, a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides highly-trained and socialized service and companion dogs to veterans designated as amputees, as well as those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), was already well under way when Anderson first pulled into the State Street driveway he now occupies with his wife and their many dogs.

“(The organization’s media manager) sent me a Zillow for a property in Madisonville while I was driving on (Interstate-45) from Houston to Dallas,” said Anderson. “I looked at it, then I looked up and there was a sign that says, ‘Madisonville, 11 miles’. So I said I’d go look at it.”

According to Anderson, he pulled into the driveway and bought the house before he pulled out of it. After years in California, he and Sue felt Texas was a better fit for their values and a fine location to operate Rebuilding Warriors.

While they are based in Madisonville, the organization gets requests for dogs nationwide and works with recipients all over the country. In 2021 alone they have arranged for dogs to be sent to recipients in Dallas, Utah, upstate New York and Virginia Beach, among other locations.

“We are still small, I want to keep it small,” said Anderson. “I think the bigger you are the more problems and control issues you have. My board of directors are people I have known since I was in fourth grade.”

Rebuilding Warriors, which launched in August of 2013, consistently trained and delivered roughly 15-20 service dogs a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They still managed to giveaway 13 in 2020 and are on pace for about 17 this year, according to Anderson.

“20 dogs a year is a lot and it is not like you’re always giving away two a month, you got to do it when the dog is ready,” said Anderson. “I may go the first three months giving away no dogs, and then in one month I may have to do four or five. That is the balancing act of this; that and funding. We are privately funded by private citizens and we have some people who own businesses who will contribute, and that’s gigantic. Otherwise you have to hold fundraisers, and that takes time and a lot of effort and networking.

“But (COVID-19) absolutely destroyed our fundraising. We usually do a really large event in New Jersey, but they have been shut down. But we have been real fortunate. Last year, we had two folks who sponsored three dogs for us.”

In the organization’s early days, Rebuilding Warriors provided dogs for almost all combat veterans. Since, they’ve expanded their cliental to include law enforcement members as well as some sexual assault victims. Since the organization is dedicated to quality first and foremost, the most difficult part of the job is the selection process.

“The hardest thing about this is saying no,” said Anderson, who has to manage the application process along with others in the organization. “I really try to be open-minded about it and I really try to help who i can help, but it has to be realistic.

“We try to be fair about who we select and ask, ‘do you really need the dog?’ and, if so, are you going to take care of our dog?”

Once a recipient is selected for a given service pup, the dog is trained separate from where they live for the specific need, which varies based on each case. Once the dog meets the training requirements, the trainer and a representative from the organization (usually Anderson or his Vice President, Jeff Mullins) will fly to the recipient’s house with the dog.

The organization members walk through everyday activities with the recipient and the dog before leaving them together.

The dogs themselves come from a number of kennels across the country, which Anderson has cultivated a relationship with over the years. These kennels include Diamond Match German Shepherds (Leverett, Mass.), Sawtooth Kennels (Visalia, Cal.), Einstein K9 LLC (San Antonio, Texas), Channeled Canine LLC (Walton, Ken.), Alyssa Dunlap (Sonora, Cal.) and Proven K9s (Grand Prairie, Texas).

Anderson has always been an avid dog lover, which helped spawn the organization in the first place. He is an Army veteran, along with Sue, which is how they originally met.

“I was a First Sergeant in charge of a prisoner of war processing company, she was in a military police company that was on port security,” said Anderson. “Right when Desert Storm started they merged those two units together and we were together for about 10 months. Then the war was over, she goes her way and I go mine before we reunited at Police Olympics and those types of events. We ended up dating and marrying.” Sue served in law

Sue served in law enforcement for 30 years and Jeff was a deputy for about half that time. Sue continues to work events and manages a team of rescue dogs that are called to assist in case of certain disasters.

Jeff was always very involved in the dog world, working at the largest police kennel west of the Mississippi River in California (Adelhorst Kennels).

“We would go to Europe once a quarter and buy 100 dogs,” said Anderson. “We would ship them back and sell them to police agencies. They really took care of mostly the Western side of the United States.”

In the early 2000s, the Navy came calling and said they were looking to train dogs.

“They didn’t have an internal mechanism to teach them at the time, so we had the honor of training some of the first military dogs,” said Anderson.

It was during this work for the Navy when combat members would come back, often experiencing physical and mental troubles from the hardships of warfare, asking Anderson if he would train service dogs for them personally. The idea for the organization was born.

“We did six (dogs) that first year and Sue and I paid for those,” said Anderson. “And then we did six the second year and paid for those, too. We put out 12 good dogs. One day you wake up and you’re in debt, so in 2013 I decided to go non-profit. All of our money is operational. None of us take a paycheck. The only people who get paid are the trainers who take that year-and-a-half to train the dog and, even then, it is not a huge amount of money.” In a fitting tribute to his

In a fitting tribute to his love for the film industry, Anderson referred to himself as the “Modern Day Forrest Gump” due to his extremely diverse career in the service, law enforcement and Hollywood.

His barn is littered with photos posing with actors he helped train for roles, such as a young Matt Damon as he prepared to star in The Bourne Identity in 2002, the first in an extremely successful franchise of action movies. His prowess in law enforcement and martial arts, along with his previous residence in California, helped him play a critical role in the film industry behind the scenes. Other notable projects he participated in include Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and the hit television series Sons of Anarchy (2008-14).

Also on the barn’s wall are numerous news clippings, including some highlighting Sue’s work with her disaster dogs over the years. Elsewhere on the

Elsewhere on the property, one can find a training course for service dogs, which Sue uses to keep her team sharp and in shape. For more information

For more information on Rebuilding Warriors and their activities, visit the organization on Facebook or at www.rebuildingwarriors.com .