Citadel Canine Society

Citadel Therapy Canine Society, which does business as Citadel Canine Society, or Citadel Canine, is a non-profit Society incorporated in British Columbia. It was incorporated in the summer of 2012, and it is also a registered charitable organization by Canada Revenue Agency. Consequently it is able to issue tax deduction receipts for donations. The mission of Citadel Canine Society is two-fold: it strives to make the lives of our new veterans and first responders better, and it aims to reduce occupational stress that might have resulted from their service. To achieve this Citadel Canine arranges for the training and subsequent delivery, at no charge to recipients, of highly trained Service or Companion dogs. These dogs come from animal rescue organizations, or from donors. A network of skilled and qualified dog trainers has been established that provides basic and/or follow-on training for the Citadel Canine program at rates which are well below the normal charges to train and deliver certified service dogs. The first batch of dogs was delivered to recipients (two CF veterans and an RCMP officer) in January of 2013. Since that first delivery, Citadel Canine now has recipients with dogs, dogs in training, or recipients waiting for qualified dogs in: Victoria, Greater Vancouver, Kamloops, Creston, Edmonton, Airdrie, Okotoks, High River, Saskatoon, Regina, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Ottawa. A training capability in Atlantic Canada will likely emerge shortly. Funding for the Citadel Canine mission is provided by individual, corporate, and organizational donations. To date donations have originated from a variety of sources within British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.