It's been no easy feat for 49-year-old Michael Richards to get a service dog but luckily, Operation Freedom Paws helped him reclaim a vision of hope for his future.

Richards incurred a severe psychological injury during Canadian military training in 1994. Because he was not considered a veteran, he didn't qualify for organizations that pair service dogs with veterans for free. So, Richards, who struggled for years without adequate help, started fundraising.

But even after raising an impressive $12,800, and adopting his dog Vision, a Tamaskan, in 2021, he was starting to lose hope under the weight of his PTSD and living below the poverty line.

"I was at the point that I felt that I could never train Vision to become a service dog and I didn't want to live without her. So I was looking to rehome her so I could kill myself."

"That's when I found Operation Freedom Paws, so they literally saved my life."

Operation Freedom Paws is a charity that works with veterans and first responders, but also with civilians, differentiating it from other organizations. Considering that well-trained service dogs can range from $25,000 to $60,000, the organization is a lifeline for many.

It's also different in that it operates under a community model; rather than breeding animals specifically for service, it instead teaches people to train their own dogs. For Richards, the experience was a rewarding one.

"It's one of the largest single accomplishments I've done in my life. It's more important to me than my degree," he said.

What a service dog does and what they're trained to do depends on the individual's needs, Richards said. But ultimately the dogs are trained to pay attention to emotions and read body language.

One way Vision helps Richards is by performing deep pressure therapy. It's similar to the comfort one can derive from a weighted blanket, but in Richard's case, Vision will lie, stand on or put a paw on him.

"It is a way of bringing me back to present if she senses I'm dissociating from PTSD," he said. "When you're in a PTSD episode you don't snap out of it. She's snapping me out of it."

And when Richards is showing signs of severe depression, she'll nudge him to the front door. "She's telling me, 'Let's go outside.' She'll push me that way because activity is really good for me."

"She's also a very, very, very good snuggler," he said.

Service dogs are also trained to use one of their superpowers: their sense of smell. The part of a dog's brain devoted to analyzing smells is about 40 times greater than ours, which allows them to do incredible things like detecting changes in blood sugar and stress hormones or identifying seizures before they happen. 

The program ultimately did more for Richards than giving him a helpful companion. While he felt "very ashamed going into the program" because his injuries happened in basic training, he was pleasantly surprised by the welcoming community that met him.

"I thought, how am I to compare to these people and who am I? And they welcomed me, and welcomed me as a veteran," he said.

He also found his current partner in the program.

It's the reason why he decided to keep Vision's name, which was given by the breeder.

"For someone like myself who never had a vision for the future ... I have other trauma that's related; childhood trauma ... from multiple different sources. My vision was to go and die in the armed forces. That was my only vision for the future. Now I have a real vision for the future, to feel that I can be loved."

There is no government funding for service dogs in Canada and Veterans Affairs does not provide free service dogs for veterans, though service dogs and their expenses are tax deductible. 

"It seems shocking unless you're part of the part of it and then it's just really sad and traumatic," Richards said.

Operation Freedom Paws relies on fundraising and grants, and 55 people have graduated from the program.

Even once in the program, there can be barriers, Richards said. Operation Freedom Paws is located in Fanny Bay, about a two-and-a-half drive from Victoria where he lived at the time. At first, he didn't have a car, and once he got a car, he had to tent there the nights he was doing training.  

Eventually, someone donated a trailer to him. "I did this with [help from] friends and on a wing and a prayer, basically."

That's why one of the organization's goals is to build a permanent facility where people have accommodation during their training.

Donations have made a large difference. Richards, who moved to Courtenay in October 2024, noted a "large donation" from West Shore Women this year helped Operation Freedom Paws buy another 85-by-35-foot tent so training can be done in poor weather and the winter.

Operation Freedom Paws has a waitlist, though Richards estimates it's probably shorter than most organizations because it is not as well known.

To Richards, it's important to get the word out about how the organization and Vision have changed his life. And he wants more people to find the light that he found.

"The love of a dog is really transformative. The love of a service dog is beyond measure."