Keith McKeever 0:24

Hey, welcome back to another episode of mission 309, where the goal is to highlight the people in organizations doing amazing things. Right here in Peoria. Enough with the negativity. We're going to talk about the positive things that are going on in Peoria. Before I start, though, bring up my guests, please go like and subscribe to not only my channel, but got a special guest today. We've got Corey, James with freedom, pause. So make sure and I'll have his stuff scrolling here across screen before I bring him up. Make sure you go like it, follow his page, his Facebook page, his social media accounts and everything like that everything will be in the show notes as well, but support local support these nonprofits. So without further ado, Corey, welcome to Mission 309.

Corey James 1:03

Hey, Keith, how's it going?

Keith McKeever 1:04

It's going good, man. It's going good. Good. So you are the founder of freedom paws service dogs? Yes, sir. chilla. Coffee. Yes, sir. So tell us a little bit about

Keith McKeever 1:17

who you are. Sure. And, and what freedom pauses?

Corey James 1:21

Sure. So I spent 15 years I've changed roughly 16 years between active duty military and then the Air National Guard. When I got out, did a couple jobs. Things started kind of going downhill a little bit as far as my mental state. And after my wife and I talked about it, we started looking at options for service dog. And that's kind of where freedom paws was born.

Keith McKeever 1:47

Awesome. Now, I've talked, I've had another conversation with you, guys for military veterans issues. So we went a little bit more in depth there. But but your your wife has some some history training dogs to see

Corey James 1:59

those as well. So yeah, she, she used to volunteer for leader dog for the blind. So she had some experience in that already. And I had a little bit of experience, train police dogs and kind of working around them while I was in the military. So actually, it was kind of natural fit. That was a natural fit between her and I feel and we thought it was something we could do. It was just, we just wanted to give back and we wanted to help. I knew that if it would help me then it would probably it could possibly help others that were in the same mental state as I was.

Keith McKeever 2:31

There's no doubt about it and helps a lot of people and like I've told you before, it seems like if you look around now in public, you see more service animals everywhere. Great, because you know that those people, they're living a better quality of life. They are they were before they had it there. Anyway, but yes, yeah, it was very, very late. No,

Corey James 2:49

we know. And that's what we tell everyone here is, it's not going to completely like one at your whole life. I mean, it's not going to turn everything around, you know, the stuff you're dealing with is still going to be there. But this is going to help you kind of it's going to kind of smooth things out, you know, when you're out and about helping kind of navigate how we kind of navigate the obstacles, you know?

Keith McKeever 3:12

Absolutely. Absolutely. So. So service dogs. So just to paint a picture, what exactly are you doing with the service dogs and the training and stuff like that?

Corey James 3:21

Yeah, so we are. Our mission is we train service dogs for veterans, first responders that suffer from PTSD, all of our dogs are 100%, free to the veteran or first responder, we have a two year training program. It's at the three tiered training program. I can get into that offline with anybody wants to know about it. I can tell them about all of that.

Keith McKeever 3:44

They can check out the podcast episode that?

Corey James 3:45

Absolutely yeah, that's another Yeah,

Keith McKeever 3:47

I'll put the link in there too, if anybody wants to learn more conversation. So the three tiers go ahead there.

Corey James 3:53

Yeah. So we have a, we have a three three tier program, the course is actually set out to be 18 months long, we set it at 24. Just to make sure there's any problems or anything. We need to do some more corrections, anything like that. But typically, it'll be about 18 months or so. And then I said it's in three phases. It's just a gradual incline on what the dogs are doing. How they're nice.

Keith McKeever 4:19

It's important to note too, because we talked about it on the podcast episode as well, that it's not just training the dog, it's training the owner handler, as well for Afghans and how to take care of hog and like how to work together because there has to be, you know, just like any team that has to be reported has a track record of trust.

Corey James 4:37

Loyalty, all that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And again, it's been a it's been a pretty big success since we started so some we're very very proud of

Keith McKeever 4:49

I'm sure you've gotten a lot of people that have gone through it. I know a couple I know least one that anyway. Yeah. Pretty well. I'm sure it's got to be current doubly rewarding when they come back. And you can maybe see, or maybe they tell you, you know, the impact that it does make,

Corey James 5:06

there's so many rewarding things kind of throughout the program. You know, one is the whole selection process and and pairing the team. Sometimes that happens really quick. And sometimes that takes a while, you know, sometimes it's the first dog, sometimes it's the eighth dog that we kind of pair them with, or we try to pair them with, you know, but yeah, it's, it's very rewarding for me, because, you know, I get to see a lot of these guys and gals are where I was, mentally, a lot of them haven't been out of the house and over a year, you know, we, we deal with those types all the time. But just seeing them go from when I first meet them, to kind of the halfway point, and then to all the way through, like the transition is amazing. It's something I can't really tell, you would have to see it for yourself to know. And I know you saw, I know, you know, one of our common acquaintance, Jeff, I'll just say first name. Yeah. Seeing him from start to finish was, I mean, that that's what really fills my cup. Absolutely. The most rewarding thing that I've ever done.

Keith McKeever 6:09

That does not surprise me at all. I just one of the reasons I wanted to have you on here, because I think it's just it is such a direct impact on somebody's life. Absolutely. And that companion it can be next to you. In an anxiety situation, maybe they have physical needs to that, you know, you can look on YouTube while you want, you know, you can see videos that are like a washcloth tied to the to the fridge or drawing the dog goes opens up and grows up. Or can have beer or something for the guy. Right? All right. Seeing Eye Dogs helping people navigate street sales and stuff like this. It's amazing what a dog can do. Now, of course, they're not the only service animal. No, you know, you probably know this, I should know this off the top my head, I believe is miniature horses. Yes, can also be a legitimate service animal that I've ever seen anybody with one.

Corey James 7:04

I actually when I have never seen one either, I went to a task dogs event in Missouri. It was pre COVID. And they actually had one of those miniature horses there. It was a service animal and I couldn't believe it. I mean, I'd always heard about it. I just never seen it. And I'm telling you though, they're very therapeutic as well, from what I understand. There's a lot of people doing

Keith McKeever 7:29

therapy with horses. Absolutely. Just the idea of a therapy horse, miniature horse falling around.

Corey James 7:37

I'm not sure how the training works, or I'm not sure about any of that.

Keith McKeever 7:42

You know, I don't think anybody around anymore he doesn't. But I'm gonna have to find somebody who does that. I'm going to have to ask them questions, because now yeah, that's gonna be curious.

Corey James 7:49

Right? Yeah, I don't Yeah. How do you train a horse? That's yeah. The first thing, honestly,

Keith McKeever 7:55

you know what? You'd be surprised. It's probably pretty close to training. And

Corey James 7:59

I would think it would merit somewhat. Yeah. Yeah. Once you have that person on, please let me know if they want to.

Keith McKeever 8:05

Absolutely. I'm sure everybody will be curious about that. So. So your training facility is a little coffee. Right? It's in Chillicothe. And. And so I know you you have calls out there for volunteers and stuff. You've volunteer puppy raisers, volunteers out there, I'm assuming to like, do clean up and feed the dogs and train up limited, something like that. So absolutely. What anything else out there that you're low? Yeah, we

Corey James 8:29

have. We have volunteers for events, we have events. Not every week, it would almost every weekend. So we're always looking for volunteers to just come out and help out with really, whatever. We're pretty easygoing, around here. So kind of whatever they would like, like to help out with that date. But we're always looking for help.

Keith McKeever 8:46

Awesome. I was just going to ask you like, I know you have a lot of events. So is there certain events that you have like every year, like what maybe what are your big, biggest couple events that you

Corey James 8:58

Yeah, probably the poor brother's event in Peoria heights. We talked about Robbie the other day. The poor brothers event is been huge for us. A huge success. It seems to bring a lot of people out. He always has great pans and music and the food's amazing. And I would be probably pressed to say some of the best beer in the area. Yes.

Keith McKeever 9:25

I've heard. What's your name? Danny ray and the soul shakers, I think? At least twice. Absolutely. For an event. So she's making out there quite a bit. Yeah, absolutely. The good event, whatever they

Corey James 9:35

put out over there. Yeah, so that's, uh, we have that coming up. September 10. While I'm on here, I like to think I would like to make sure that I also throw in there. It's not just freedom. Pause. We have the VFW Peoria heights. We have the American Legion and puree heights in the Navy Marine club as well. Kind of all partner up and we all kind of work on this together.

Keith McKeever 9:57

And it's awesome. Yeah, there's a lot of Veterans Service Organizations that that need funding needs support all the things that they do too. So absolutely. At the end of the day, both of us being veterans, like, we know, like, we're a tight knit community. You know, is there's no us versus them kind of thing is like, Hey, we're all in this together. And that's exactly what you're so.

Corey James 10:22

Absolutely. But yeah, that's probably our biggest event of the year. That's when I wouldn't want to mess I'm telling you, they got a great band, Matt Miller is gonna be playing the stage light, show the whole thing and we go and so if anybody's free, please don't

Keith McKeever 10:37

definitely don't want to miss that. I was there last year, I got a t shirt. Got T shirts. Loved it. You know, I've told you before. I'm not a huge animal person. My kids letter though. Like they were just like, mesmerized. And I know a couple of the dogs came over and the handlers are like, yeah, yeah, man, pat them right now. And they wrote like, they were in heaven.

Corey James 10:57

That's exactly what we

Keith McKeever 10:58

want. Yep. It was an awesome event. So

Corey James 11:03

that's one of them. We have another one. I think it's gonna be pretty big. I mean, I'd say like, we love all of our events. But I think the next big one will be in in Silla coffee at castaways. That'll be July 16. We're having a block party, and we're shutting down the streets. So great food. It'll be great bands, awesome. People come I've no doubt about

Keith McKeever 11:27

it on the great food. I get to chill the coffee super often. But when I do new There you go around lunchtime castaways is, is generally where I find myself stopping for some. There you

Corey James 11:38

go. There you go. Amazing food. Yeah, the owner, Amanda and her husband, they're great people. They also kind of donate to free to pause and help us with events and what are we need? So another thing, you know, is this thing is just with the events. Seems like this is the first year that is really, it seems like every weekend, we have something going on. So that has to go.

Keith McKeever 12:04

So I appreciate you stopping by real quick Korean kind of highlighting what you're doing with freedom, pause and why you're doing it and the different events and like I said, Before, I pulled you up here, you know, everybody take a moment to follow. Do your websites at the bottom, I'll have your social media and everything in there. You know, people, if you're watching this, if you feel in your heart to make a donation, make a donation if you want to volunteer, volunteer, share, whatever, you know, and if your positivity to organizations and good people. So

Corey James 12:36

you know, what if you're a veteran or first responder in need, you know, there's a huge stigma with PTSD and mental health that I hope we're trying to break that, you know, and that it's all it's not, you know, as men, we're kind of raised to be tough and strong and everything else. But sometimes when you need help, you just need help. So any veterans, for responders out there, if you need help, or you have PTSD, you think you might have PTSD, you can call us anytime. And we're we're always down, we're always down to talk with anybody, you know, whether they need a dog or not. A lot of them do, but some of them just need somebody to talk to. So I'm always out there for that, too.

Keith McKeever 13:15

Absolutely. As am I so like I said earlier, we got it, we got to be there for each other as one big one big family veterans. That's true, but you kind of hit on something else. I guess we didn't really mention too much is like puppy raisers and stuff like that. So if somebody's out there, and breeds dogs, and you feel like donating some absolutely reach out to Cory as well, and see if you know, you got a need for a dog. So there's, there's can always use more dogs. Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people out there. Right, really some help. And like I said earlier, it's a two year process. So

Corey James 13:46

it is it is and there's you know, there's sometimes we may have a dog that's a little bit further along that we can, you know, we can kind of speed up the train a little bit, but typically on standard is going to be the 18 to 24 months.

Keith McKeever 14:00

Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. I mean, there's differences in breeds and stuff. Yep. And yeah, temperaments of dogs and matching it with I'm sure and humans. Right. And humans are absolutely Yep. Yep. Like it goes back to that team thing. So, but once again, Cory, I appreciate you stopping by and sharing who you are and what you're doing and and letting us know the positive things that you guys are doing here in the community. Absolutely. Every way I'm sure you've had dogs go all over the place, but

Corey James 14:28

oh, yeah, absolutely. We we do we have we're national. We will help anyone anywhere but a lot of a lot of the folks that we help are right kind of in the Peoria Bloomington kind of that area.

Keith McKeever 14:41

Awesome. Do you got chance not to hate put you on spot. Do you know how many dogs that you've that you've trained that are here in this local area? Roughly?

Corey James 14:49

Out the door right now. There'll be 26 Wow, out that is awesome. Yeah, we have two classes running currently. And we have a new we have new dogs coming in starting next month.

Keith McKeever 15:02

That is awesome. That's that's a lot of people affected.

Corey James 15:05

I hope so I hope we're in I hope we're doing it right.

Keith McKeever 15:09

Well, it's not just the people that are affected to is the people in their lives, as well as loved ones, kids, parents, you know, their ability to do their job and all kinds of different things. So the impact, it's like ripples in water. Yeah, you know, you're just making one little dog. Right, the rest of the ripples, picking up so

Corey James 15:29

well, Keith, again, thank you so much for having me. I truly appreciate it. And like I said, anybody has any questions? Always reach out to us.

Keith McKeever 15:34

Awesome. Yep. I appreciate you being here, Cory. All right.

Corey James 15:38

Well, hey, Keith, anything give me a call. Give me a shout out. Absolutely. All right, well, take care. Bye bye.