Meet Graham from Shelter to Soldier and Specialty Dog Training

Hello! I haven’t blogged in awhile. I felt like I needed a little break. I recently hit the 2.5 month mark of starting Tell Me Moore as a lifestyle blog. It’s been an...interesting ride and I appreciate all the support I have gotten from you. I have thought about it and I’m going to try to have more intention with my posts. And it’s really cool because a couple weeks ago I met with my friend Graham Bloem (who also happens to be the guy who trained Ravioli!) and Graham made a point to tell me a couple times to be confident with what I’m doing and know that I’m making a difference. He even told me that he refers clients to my New Puppy Guide blog post! You never know who is watching or looking. He also said, “I really like that you’re having fun with it but also working to share good content that helps people. You’re also supporting local small businesses and charities. Your work on this project is meaningful and will make an impact. Imagine if someone reads something that helps keep a dog from being dropped off at a shelter, or a veteran reads about STS (Shelter to Soldier) and submits an application.” And with that I suddenly have a purpose! I am going to break our first conversation into two blog posts because there was so much to say. In this post I will introduce Graham and talk about Shelter to Soldier. In Part 2 I will get into the dog training questions you all submitted that he thoroughly answered for me.

Graham and Rav during one of his training sessions with Specialty Dog Training.

First I want to give a little introduction about Graham. I have talked about him many times over the last 3+ years. We absolutely LOVE Graham. As soon as you meet him you realize he is the most genuine, kind, and incredibly caring human. He loves and appreciates his life and is fully present when he talks to you. Graham, 38, was born in South Africa and moved to Canada when he was a kid. He lived there through middle school before moving to the US and no, he doesn’t have an accent from either of those places! He has a beautiful wife and 4 precious kids. He had his oldest son when he was just 21 and this year his son will be graduating high school. His youngest just turned 2. Graham became a dog trainer nearly 20 years ago and has worked all over Southern California training dogs. Graham lost one of his closest friends to suicide which was obviously really hard for him and also a cornerstone in his life. He was actually the last person to see his friend. This hugely impacted Graham’s life and he started researching mental health and suicide. A large majority of what he read was about military related suicide and veteran suicide and Graham couldn’t get past what a huge issue this was and knew that there was a huge opportunity to help people and save lives. 

Eventually, 7 years ago, he left his well paying job at a large pet resort and started his 2 companies: Specialty Dog Training and the non-profit Shelter to Soldier (STS). The first dog was trained out of his house and was funded by donations from his community. Graham is now 7 years into it and has donated his executive salary back to STS. I love the blurb that describes STS on their website “Saving Lives Two at a Time.” Shelter to Soldier is a California 501C3 Non Profit organization that rescues dogs from local shelters and trains them to be psychiatric service dogs for veterans with PTSD and other psychological injuries associated with traumatic service experiences. They bring post-9/11 combat veterans together with trained, rescue dogs to help both recover and move forward.

So, how did we get so lucky to have Graham train our dog in the middle of all his work? I’m not really sure! It was definitely fate and I’m so, so grateful. The universe knew that I would start a blog one day and had to pair us together so I could spread the word about Shelter to Soldier! Graham only takes on 1-2 dogs himself a year from a referral or if he takes a personal interest. For example if a previous client who had Graham train their beloved dog 11 years ago contacted him, he would likely welcome the opportunity to train their new puppy given his availability. 

Right now he is training an STS dog who is sponsored by the Los Angeles Rams! He is a rescue from LA, a Corgi Shepherd mix named Cooper Pupp (after one of the players on the Rams, Cooper Kupp). The Los Angeles Rams love what STS does and wanted to support them so they donated the money to sponsor a dog. At the Salute to Service home game on the 17th of November they are announcing the partnership with Shelter to Soldier and who Cooper will be getting paired with. The Los Angeles Rams have brought added awareness on their huge platform- it’s not just about STS, it’s about the issues- mental health, suicide, and dog rescue and they get to be an advocate for those issues. They have done videos and even given Cooper his own jersey. 

One thing I never thought about was the tough, emotional setting that Graham works in on a daily basis and how much tragedy he and his team have to hear about. People reach out on a weekly basis to STS for an “in lieu of flowers” donation for their late family members. Shelter to Soldier has a mental health liaison on their board of directors to help the team deal with this. They do decompression with the team. On another note, it’s also difficult for Graham to get these dogs out of his home- the ones who live with him become “his dog” for their year and a half training. Cooper goes everywhere with him- out to dinner with family, to his parents house, hardware stores, the beach, restaurants, grocery shopping, out to the bar to watch football...Cooper is Graham’s dude!

If you’re interested in helping please contact: info@sheltertosoldier.org. 

Also Consider: 

-Donating

-Volunteering: community events, info booths, they are partnered with Fish Market- volunteers are needed at booths and to hand out pamphlets, walks with rescue partners, sell merch for donation 

-Attending Events: April 2020- Golf Tournament at Singing Hills in El Cajon at Sycuan Casino- they are looking for foursomes. It’s golf for charity- so much fun! They need committee members- you would be listed as a committee member and are hands on helping but all you have to do is secure foursomes and your job is done.

-August 2020 at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe is their annual benefit, The 8th Annual Be the Light Gala- everyone attending is the light for dogs and veterans in need and it’s truly an amazing event. Craig and I hope to go to one or both of these next year!

-Sharing Events, Signing up for the newsletter and sharing with your contacts. Some of their biggest supporters found them on social media - The Los Angeles Rams found them thanks to their partnership with the San Diego Gulls