Here's something to warm your heart on this chilly day: Puppies!
Eight-week old yellow and black labs arrived to Dallas Love field by private jet Tuesday afternoon after a long journey from Santa Rosa, California. That's where the national nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence is based.
The organization has a local chapter located on the campus of Baylor Scott and White Health in Irving.
Soon, the five pups will enter into intensive training to become service dogs. Despite pandemic, the group has kept it's mission going to train and provide dogs for people with disabilities at no cost.
Canine Companions, the nation’s leading provider of free service dogs for people with disabilities, typically relies on commercial airlines to transport young puppies to their volunteer puppy raisers across the country who provide care for them and begin their training.
When the coronavirus pandemic made that increasingly difficult, Canine Companions looked to private pilots for help and they stepped up in a big way, allowing the mission to continue in a difficult year.
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"The first time I did it and every time since, you hand that puppy off to its foster parents knowing what's going to come next and you just can't help but be excited," said volunteer pilot Jim Stewart.
Thanks to those generous pilots and other volunteers, Canine Companions for Independence has placed more than 360 service dogs nationwide throughout 2020.
