Meet the South Dakota veteran bringing service dogs to others

By Kate Meadows, for Pigeon605

Military veteran Tony Russell was ready to end his life in 2019.

The Air Force civil engineer was living in base housing at Ellsworth Air Force Base outside Rapid City, trying to manage his pain and post-traumatic stress disorder following a botched surgery that led to numerous complications, including flatlining three times.

During a stint at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., following that surgery, multiple teams visited him with therapy dogs. Doctors could judge by Russell’s medical chart which days he had seen a therapy dog, based on his oxygen and blood pressure levels and his mood. Doctors encouraged him to look into getting a service dog when he was released from the hospital.

He did. To get his own service dog, he learned, required that he be placed on a two-year waiting list and be prepared to pay $20,000.

The amount was not feasible for him or his family.

“It put a mountain in the path of my recovery,” he said.

Russell saw no way out. There was no way he would ever get better and certainly no way he would ever get a service dog. The best thing he could do, he reasoned, was to take himself out of the equation.

That was before the Rapid City Rush hockey team learned of Russell’s plight via a former operations chief at Ellsworth. The Rush team planned to give a service dog to someone in need. The operations chief had put Russell’s name in as a candidate.

Russell received the service dog, named Rush. It cost him nothing and quite likely saved his life.

It also turned out to be just the start of a story to connect other veterans with service dogs.

With Rush by his side, Russell, along with his wife, Eleanor, founded South Dakota Service Dogs in 2021. What started as a “low-key” mission to help another veteran acquire a service dog has since grown into a well-recognized nonprofit whose goal is to end South Dakota veteran and first responder suicides by providing service dogs at no cost to those individuals suffering from trauma.

From the start, it didn’t take long for people who heard Russell’s story of survival to get on board with supporting South Dakota veterans who suffer from trauma. In the two years that the nonprofit has been around, it has expanded its focus from veterans to also include first responders. It has, with generous support, brought more than 170 dogs into its program. Some of those dogs have been matched with veterans or first responders. Others are being trained for future matches. The organization is currently working with over 200 veterans and first responders. In 2023, it provided 38 dogs to those in need.

South Dakota Service Dogs keeps as much of its operation within the state as possible; dogs are in large part donated by South Dakota breeders and trained by South Dakota trainers.

“It is absolutely incredible,” Russell said.

Right now, three trainers are in Rapid City and one is in Watertown. A training center inside Rapid City’s Rushmore Mall gives the dogs many opportunities to be social and exposes them to high-sensory experiences. The mall is an excellent training ground, Russell said, because there are lots of smells and people of all ages – details that dogs must get used to if they are to provide a public service.

The organization purchases its kennels from Ruff Land Kennels, which are made in Tea. Its food comes from D&M Ag Supply in Rapid City.

“We are really trying to reach the entire state,” Russell said.

He is the first to admit it’s a lofty goal.

But that’s because the stakes are so high. Russell said at least four people in the South Dakota Service Dogs program have said they would no longer be alive had it not been for their dogs.

To state it plainly, these dogs save lives, he said.

“The stories are crazy,” Russell said. “And that’s why it is so personal for me.”

Russell himself continues to have bad days related to his brain injury, trauma, and mental and physical health. On those days, he lies in bed and asks himself, Who is the person who might reach out today? And then, he gets out of bed, knowing that if he doesn’t show up, South Dakota Service Dogs might miss a golden opportunity to save someone.

One veteran who was saved by South Dakota Service Dogs is Army nurse Joy Huss of Cresbard. Huss served with the 159th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during Desert Storm. As a member of the most-forward medical unit during the ground war, she was thrown from a 5-ton truck and sustained a head injury.

More than 30 years later, Huss still suffered from PTSD and neurological injuries. She entered a residential treatment program for PTSD at the Hot Springs VA Hospital, and that’s where she met Russell, on Sept. 11, 2022. Russell had brought a few service dogs to the VA to promote South Dakota Service Dogs and meet with veterans one-on-one with the dogs. Huss was struck by Russell’s story, not only because of how heart-wrenching it was but also because she resonated with much of his experience. She, too, was a disabled veteran and she, too, had struggled mightily with depression and suicidal thoughts.

Russell talked to Huss about how a service dog could help her manage her PTSD. When he told her that South Dakota Service Dogs provides service dogs for free, Huss didn’t believe him.

“I looked at him, and I said, ‘You are kidding me,’” she said. “And he said, ‘No, I’m not kidding you.’”

While Huss continued her residential treatment in Hot Springs, Russell met with a few entities along with Huss’ wife, Kelsey, to start the process of getting Huss a free service dog. By the time Huss was released from her treatment program, she learned that there was a chocolate lab due to be born at Coteau View Hunts and Kennels near Conde on Thanksgiving Day.

That chocolate lab would be hers, and she would name the lab Storm. She would work with Russell and a Watertown-based facility, Happy Tails Training, to train Storm to behave as her service dog.

Huss said Storm gave her a reason to get out of bed every day.

“I have to take care of her,” Huss said. “I fell in love with her. She gave me a purpose.”

Perhaps what astounds Huss most about South Dakota Service Dogs is that Russell continues to faithfully serve fellow veterans and first responders, even though he is no longer in active service.

“When it’s in your heart to work and serve, it’s bred into you,” Huss said, “even if you’re not obligated to sign that dotted line.”

Once a veteran or first responder receives a service dog, both they and the dog go through an annual certification process at no cost.

“We just want to make sure they are getting the best experience with their dogs long term,” Russell said. It’s also important that the veterans and first responders continue to work with their dogs so the skills of both dog and owner stay sharp.

Funding is always the greatest challenge for the South Dakota Service Dogs. The organization is grateful to have been 100 percent donation based since its founding, keeping the dogs free for veterans and first responders. Russell said the organization is starting to investigate grant opportunities.

“We want to make it as easy on the veteran as possible,” he said.

Huss takes that statement a leap further.

“South Dakota Service Dogs will reach to the ends of the earth to help a veteran,” she said.