Huffines Plano to present Patriot Paws with new vehicle during graduation event
(June 26, 2014) Devon Colbert and his family will officially receive a Patriot Paws service dog, Yukon John (aka “Johnny”), during a special graduation ceremony hosted by Huffines in Plano at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 1.
Patriot Paws is a nonprofit organization based in Rockwall, whose mission is to train and provide service dogs at no cost to disabled American veterans and others with mobile disabilities in order to help restore their physical and emotional independence.
As a Navy veteran, Devon was a Seaman who served stateside intelligence. After his military service, Devon became a volunteer firefighter for the Rockwall Fire Department. He was eventually hired on by the Garland Fire Department where he worked as a firefighter.
While Christmas shopping in December of 2012, Devon and his then two-year-old son were involved in a serious car accident. Devon suffered a dislocated neck and C5 spinal cored injury, which left him initially paralyzed from the neck down. He has one percent usage in each hand.
Devon applied for a service dog at Patriot Paws in order to be less dependent on his wife, Emily, and to be able to help her with their two young sons.
Johnny, a Goldendoodle, will graduate as a fully trained service dog and will live with the Colberts. Johnny went through roughly 18 to 24 months of intense training to learn more than 65 cues to help Devon regain some of his independence. That training costs roughly $27,000.
As part of Huffines Auto Dealerships 90th anniversary celebration, they wanted to give back to a nonprofit that supports our military men and women. After much research, Huffines discovered that Patriot Paws is in dire need of a new vehicle to they can transport these service dogs to veterans across Texas.
Huffines will be giving Patriot Paws a 2014 Jeep Patriot the same day that Devon and his family will receive their newest family member, Johnny the Goldendoodle.
Huffines is located at 4500 West Plano Parkway, Plano, TX.
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