From West Point to a New Lease on Life
West Point graduate Alisha Houston’s dream of deployment took an unexpected turn while enrolled as a cadet. “I had some knee issues at the academy that almost kept me from commissioning, and I could not deploy,” she said. A botched surgery forced her to medically transition out of the Army and led to more than 20 years of severe mobility issues.
Like many veterans, Alisha sought help from the VA to get a service dog, but the process was a dead end. She quickly discovered a critical gap: no VA-required Assistance Dogs International (ADI) certified service dog providers were available in Georgia much less the Southeast.
“I learned very quickly the approval process with the VA wasn’t as advertised,” she said. “The VA is supposed to pay for the veterans to go through. There are a lot of veterans who qualify but due to the frustration, they drop out of the program and never get a service dog.”
Determined to find the support she needed, Alisha started to research non-profits that were providing service dogs for veterans. That’s when she found Top Dogg K9 Foundation. Alisha said she was impressed that co-founders Blake “Top Dogg” Rashad and his wife Sheila were Army veterans like her.
“I put in an application online and thought ‘let me see what happens.’ They’re a really popular program and I was on a wait list,” she recalled. “Six months later, they had an opening and asked if I wanted to come meet the dogs and see if I matched.”
Alisha met a golden retriever and some labradoodles, but due to allergies in her family, the retriever was not a match and, because of her need for a strong, assertive dog, the labradoodles weren’t either.
“I interviewed with Top, and he told me about giant schnauzers that they breed as part of their for-profit business that helps supplement the non-profit. That’s how I met my service dog Zuri. As soon as I met her in April of 2024, we were an immediate match.”
The rigorous, year-long training at Top Dogg was life-changing. Zuri not only needed to learn how to work as a service dog for Alisha’s physical mobility issues, Alisha needed training as well.
“It was me who needed the training on how to be her handler and do the commands. And, with my family of six, she needed to be good with kids. Some of it was her being a family dog and the kids learning how to work with her and learn her commands when we were at home with her and how she needed to protect me when we were out and about,” Alisha said.
Zuri now provides Alisha with stability and, remarkably, alerts her before her joints are about to lock up by gently head-butting her. Zuri also helps balance Alisha by brushing against her when she’s standing. Alisha said the training at Top Dogg opened her eyes about the organization’s dedication to veterans.
“They have a really good testimony of doing a lot of good things for veterans really when nobody is looking. They take an enormous amount of time, energy and money to ensure disabled veterans are taken care of. Once they match, they train these dogs, they train us, they give up Saturdays and weekends literally not for profit,” Alisha said of Top and Sheila’s dedication. “I just see that they have a heart for what they’re doing, and it shows. And it’s not always like that for organizations doing veteran care.”