Email: Info@WhiteHavenCanine.org
WHITEHAVEN CANINE BUSINESS REALIGNMENT
December 12, 2024
We mentioned last week that ‘Changes Were Coming’ at WhiteHaven Canine. Since we began in 2018, our goal was to provide obedience training for the general public and use the funds raised through tuition, to obtain donated dogs or those from local shelters to train and then donate them to disabled Veterans. It was our way of giving back to our community and to help our Veterans. Those that have followed us in the past know that I was assaulted in June 2023. (KXXV-TV News Segment: Local Marine veteran attacked - YouTube) In October 2023, we closed our training facility and ceased to operate training dogs for the public and our Veterans.
Another way that we give back to our community is to conduct Pet Therapy visits to local hospitals, nursing homes, hospice units, schools, local first responder units, etc, and started this in 2018. With the training facility closed and after a period of healing, we made the decision to do Pet Therapy on a full-time basis. The facilities that we now serve/visit has grown considerably since 2018.
We are currently serving (in alphabetical order) Baylor University [several departments], Community Healthcare of Texas, Encompass Health Rehab Hospital, Mercy House Waco, Mercy House Living Springs, McGregor Elementary School, Providence Village Rehab, Robinson Jr. High School, Robinson Volunteer Fire Department, Talitha Koum Institute, and the Doris Miller VA Regional Medical Center. Additional facilities have requested visits for 2025.
Working with Canines 4 Christ, an international Christian-based, animal-assisted therapy ministry, we are working to form a Waco chapter. We are currently seeking others that have a desire to help with this volunteer community service to those in need. Once the chapter is approved, we will be changing the name on our Website and our Facebook page to reflect this change. The URLs used to reach the website & Facebook page will remain the same. You will still be able to reach us the same way as you currently do. You will be seeing the Canines 4 Christ logo instead of the WhiteHaven Canine logo, but it is still us.
If you have a dog that you feel is suited to do Pet Therapy, let us hear from you (info@whitehavencanine.org) and we can assist you is getting started with the new local chapter to serve in the McLennan County/Waco area. We hope you all have a great Christmas, and you will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.
Alan & Szva
December 2023
As a Client / Follower of WhiteHaven Canine, you are probably aware that I was the victim of an assault in June of 2023. As a result of that and the need to heal, both physically and mentally, we had to close our training facility in November 2023. You can see the KXXV-TV Ch 25 report of the attack here: Local Marine Veteran Attacked (youtube.com)
BEGINNING APRIL 1, 2024, WhiteHaven Canine will be reverting to the ‘Original’ business structure we had when starting in 2017; Conducting Evaluations Only. We will continue to conduct Evaluations for the American Kennel Club's (AKC) Canine Good Citizen programs, i.e. Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Community Canine (CGCA), and the Urban Canine (CGCU) ratings.
For our Current & Former clients, you are members of the 'WhiteHaven Family' and we will seek to continue to assist you with issues you might have with your dog and “possibly” additional training, should it be needed or requested.
We have revised our entire website. We hope you will take the time to review the changes made to the site. We especially hope you will review, "Evaluations Offered (whitehavencanine.org) ", which will give you the information and the registration form you will need for the Evaluation you are seeking. Since we will be focusing more on Therapy Dog service, please visit: Therapy Dog Service (whitehavencanine.org) for more information on that.
My continued healing is the primary reason for this change of business plan, and IT IS and HAS to be MY PRIORITY. The decision did not come lightly or quickly, but only through much prayer & consideration, while still trying to balance and serve our client base with their needs.
Our EMAIL address: Info@WhiteHavenCanine.org will remain active and you will be able to reach us through that. We will respond to your emails within a 24-hour period. Our FACEBOOK page: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHaven.Canine will remain active and we suggest that you ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ that page to receive any updates we send out. The Facebook page will be our primary source of current issues.
THANK YOU, for allowing WhiteHaven Canine to serve you and be a part of your dog’s growth and training since 2017. It has been our pleasure! If we can assist you with your needs in the future, we will welcome the opportunity to serve you.
Blessings,
Alan & Szva
