The importance of service dogs cannot be overstated.

Millions of people in America and around the world count on their loyal service dogs in their daily lives, whether they’re medical service dogs, blind aid dogs, or therapeutic service dogs.

One problem, however, is that these dogs are often trained very specifically, and the training centers aren’t exactly widespread.

As a result, transportation of these service dogs to the people who need them across the country can be quite difficult.

That’s also something this group of pilots seem to realize, and so they figure that they are the perfect candidates to offer these non-profits the perfect solution.

A number of pilots are volunteering to transport service dogs to people on behalf of non-profit organizations.

Canine Companions for Independence is one of those organizations, and they mainly work with Golden and Labrador Retrievers to turn them into highly-trained assistance dogs.

The animal organization is located in California, but have already gotten trained puppies transported to many different states, including Oregon, Texas, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. All of these places are in addition to the southern part of their home state.

Since the issue of flight restrictions due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the organization hasn’t been able to put dogs on flights and into the homes of the people who need them.

CCI was able to book a flight here and there, but most of the air travel was either shut down or delayed, making it incredibly difficult to deliver the service dogs to the homes where they were needed.

A couple of pilots based out of the Sonoma Jet Center in California decided to offer their piloting services, free of charge.

Since these weren’t commercial flights but private planes, transportation was possible even during the shutdown.

The puppies need to be flown to temporary homes first, where they are further trained and raised before they can head to their forever home.

Martyn Lewis, Josh Hochberg, and Jeff Stewart are the three pilots volunteering for this great cause.

For Hochberg, it was actually his first time ever flying with a dog onboard.

“Once they get into the plane, they require less attention than my daughters,” he said to Insider with a laugh.

The pilot usually doesn’t fly alone, as his two daughters will hop on the plane during most of his so-called “puppy flights.”

It allows the daughters to have a bit of playtime with the adorable pups, and it makes them tired so they can sleep during the ride on the plane.

The man also absolutely loves his new volunteer job, and they even adopted a puppy named Charlie.

“It’s more fulfilling than I could have possibly imagined,” the pilot said. “So fulfilling that I actually got a puppy of my own.”

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It turns out, these pilots are a Godsend to the organization.

“Disability doesn’t disappear in times of crisis,” PR and marketing coordinator of Canine Companions Michelle Williams said. “If we were to put everything on hold, those people are going to wait longer for their assistance dogs.”

They couldn’t praise the volunteering pilots enough.

“Not only are they giving their plane, but their time, their fuel… They’re going out for full days … it’s just incredible.”

At the moment, there are still around 400 people out there waiting for their service dog. Most of them are people with physical disabilities who rely on service dogs to lead a normal life as much as possible.

The pilots and the organization now hope that they can find a couple of people willing to fly to the east coast of the country.

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“We’ve got the West Coast covered,” pilot Hochberg said. “The challenge is the dogs need to go all the way across the US.”

In any case, thanks to the kind and generous efforts of these pilots, a lot more people can get acquainted with their service dog soon.

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Source: INSIDER, The Animal Rescue Site