Comprehensive Assistance for VeteransProviding assistance dogs and support.

Continuing the Mission strives to provide assistance dogs and ongoing assistance dog support for Veterans living with the challenge of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST)  to move forward as partners with purpose.

Our Overarching GoalConsistently provide at least 8-10 assistance dogs to Veterans in North Carolina each year.

Continuing the Mission provides fully trained assistance dogs at no cost to the Veteran and our training program is both unique and purposeful.

CTM dogs are placed with inmates in a North Carolina prison through our partnership with New Leash on Life for two, eight week periods during their training program. This placement provides intensive obedience training for our dogs, which is then reinforced while they reside with our volunteer Puppy Raisers.

The dogs that successfully complete the CTM training program, and graduate, are of extremely high caliber, having been a part of a family and lived in a household. The Puppy Raiser portion of our training program helps ensure a smooth transition when the dog is paired with our selected Veteran.

The partnership between CTM and our Veterans does not stop after pairing. As partners with a purpose, we are partners for life. CTM will be there for ongoing training support and as a resource whenever needed, to ensure ongoing benefit for our Veterans.
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Helpful Assistance Dogs We are dedicated to improving the lives of Veterans and their families, by pairing them with trained canine partners.

Here is how an assistance dog differs from other trained dogs:

  • Assistance (or Service) Dog

    Trained to perform tasks that help people in their daily life who have disabilities such as visual and hearing impairments, mental illnesses (such as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD), seizure disorder, mobility impairment, and diabetes.

  • Therapy Dog

    Trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster areas, and to people with autism. Most therapy dogs are not assistance or service dogs.

  • Emotional Support Animals (ESA)

    Trained to mitigate the emotional or psychological symptoms associated with a person’s condition or trained to perform a disability-specific task. Skilled companions do not have public access privileges.

Our assistance dogs are trained to Perform the Following Skills

  • Block: standing in front of you and between other people in a non threatening manner to provide support in crowded spaces;
  • Watch: standing behind you and between other people in a non threatening way to provide support in crowded spaces;
  • Lights: turning lights on to interrupt or recover from a nightmare;
  • Bring: retrieving an object;
  • Rest: laying their head in your lap to disrupt anxiousness

Other unique, individual tasks can be added through the interview and pairing process.

Learn More About Our Eligibility Criteria
An amazing organization. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have my new best friend. I am so grateful to Continuing The Mission, and to everyone that takes part and what they do for it.Aaron

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Our Partners.

Continuing the Mission is proud to recognize partnerships with the Rick Herrema Foundation, New Leash on Life – Spindale, and NC Serves.

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