In the National Defense Authorization Act 2025, the Republican Senate stripped $16 million from the appropriation funding the Department of Defense Wounded Warriors Service Dog Program.  The cuts were felt by 28 non-profit agencies training and providing service dogs to Veterans in 23 states, including New Mexico. 

 Santa Fe’s Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW), which has trained dogs for Veterans for 12 years and placed more than 55 Service Dogs with Veterans, took a $491,009 hit to their 2026 grant and contract income as a result of the Senate’s action. 

ADW launched a fundraising campaign to offset Congress’s action and continue serving the Veterans’ community. They met a $50,000 matching grant but raised, in total, $115,366, offsetting only 23% of the DOD cut. Even if full funding is restored in FY 2027, the impact of that funding cut will be felt by dozens of New Mexico Veterans faced with physical and emotional disabilities.

Similar private funding initiatives have been mounted by many other agencies around the Country. Among those reporting their situations, Freedom Dogs in Oceanside, California struggles to replace 42% of its operating budget, or $247,000 lost to the cuts.  Brigadoon Service Dogs in Bellingham, WA, and Service Dogs for America in North Dakota both took $300,000 hits.

Faced with considerable public outcry, lawmakers and the DOD did find funds to support the Wounded Warrior Service Dog Programs, but bureaucratic roadblocks thrown up by DOGE and legislative calendars left the program unfunded for more than a year.  Those losses and the dogs unavailable to Veterans will not be counteracted.  

The Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program funding may be in place for FY 2027; however, since Congress has not yet passed the Defense Authorization Act 2027, stable long-term funding remains in question.  

A gift can be made to offset the DOD Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program at ADW by clicking HERE.