Four Paws, Two Feet, One Purpose: Rescue Dogs Saving Lives with Barb Ashmead and Ellen Suettler
In this episode, we’re joined by Barb Ashmead, Founder/ Executive Director and Ellen Suettler, Assistant Executive Director of Operation Freedom Paws Canada, an organization that pairs both rescue dogs and people with disabilities, including veterans and first responders, by training them together as service dog teams. Barb and Ellen share how the healing goes both ways: dogs once overlooked in shelters are given a renewed purpose, and the humans they partner with find a life-changing companion. We’ll dive into how this unique training model works, what makes these partnerships so effective, and why purpose (on both ends of the leash) can be the key to healing trauma. From PTSD recovery to canine transformation, this is a story of second chances, devotion, and the incredible power of the human-animal bond.
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BIO:
Barb Ashmead
Barb has a BSc. and a MSc. She has co-owned Qualicum Pet Food & Cat Rescue for the past 25 years. Barb was approached in 2013 by CFB Comox to help train a veteran and his dog to be a service dog team. So began the great adventure. That year Barb co-founded Vancouver Island Compassion Dogs in Qualicum Beach, BC. In 2019, Barb decided to create another program – one that still used rescue dogs but included first responders and non-veterans in addition to veterans. In March 2020 Barb, along with Mary and Ellen began Operation Freedom Paws Canada.
Ellen Suettler
Ellen retired from the Nanaimo Lifeline Program as the Call Centre Manager in 2017. Her husband was a Veteran diagnosed with PTSD in 2015 and graduated with a service dog in 2017. He passed away shortly after. His dog Tui became Ellen’s companion. Looking for a purpose and the compassion for the dogs and the need supporting veterans to help them to integrate back into the community lead her to start working with Barb Ashmead who was starting a new service dog school. In November of 2019 she travelled with the team to OFP in Gilroy California. It was there that she fell in love with the training program and has been learning new skills to help the program get under way.