SECTION 2 OF 4
OUR TOWNS
SD Service Dogs: Saving veterans 2 one dog at a time
2023 • BLACK HILLS PIONEER
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Tony Russell received his service dog Rush in January 2011. The life-changing help that Rush provided, inspired Russell and his wife Eleanor Russell to start South Dakota Service Dogs on Veterans Day 2021. Photo courtesy Rapid City Rush
By Mark Watson Black Hills Pioneer
RAPID CITY — A South Dakota man is helping fellow military veterans and first responders one dog at a time. “There are at least two veterans in our program who have a confided in me that they would not be here without their dogs,” said Tony Russell, co-founder of South Dakota Service Dogs. “That’s two people who are still on this earth because of the generosity of our community. That’s incredible.” Russell, and his wife Eleanor Russell, founded South Dakota Service Dogs and officially launched the 501C3 organization on Veterans Day 2021. Russell’s desire to form the organization came after a years-long struggle
following injuries he sustained in an accident while serving in the Air Force. Joining the Air Force in 2011, he was a civil engineer. One day, while in Kuwait in 2018, he slipped off a piece of equipment while installing high-voltage lines in the rain. Landing on the ground, he tore his rotator cuff and other parts of his shoulder. Military physicians treated his shoulder injury but noted he had an elevated heart rate and blood pressure. “Because I was going back stateside in three weeks they said, ‘you’re gonna survive, deal with it when you get back to the states.’” Once back home, he went and saw a doctor, who agreed that treatment was
necessary, but since Russell was transferring to Japan, he could wait until then. He then deployed on a humanitarian mission which further delayed the treatment. It wasn’t until about nine months later that he was sent to the international hospital in Tokyo. “I met with a Japanese doctor, and he looked at me and … said, ‘well, we found something.’ So I said, ‘what I can’t eat bacon anymore’? Something to break the tension, break the ice. He looks at me and says, ‘I’ll walk you down to surgery now.’ That was a pretty drastic step from no bacon to surgery now.” It was at that moment that his life changed forever. SERVICE DOGS Pg 3