Chili cookoff in Aynor celebrates Big Paws service dogs’ cause

The famous phrase, “Go west, young man” has changed directions, at least for a canine charity.

The Big Paws Canine Academy & Foundation Inc., a nonprofit entity that trains and provides service dogs to veterans and former first responders – police officers and firefighters – with disabilities, will celebrate its grand opening with a chili cook-off, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at its “East Coast” base, 1379 Horry Road, Aynor.

This location will become the foundation’s third site, joining its corporate headquarters, founded in Mira Loma, east of Los Angeles; and Midwest center in Sioux Falls, S.D. Big Paws operates solely with volunteers, and all costs for veterinary care and equipment for the dogs comes from donations, grants and fundraisers. The inaugural event in Aynor entails a chili cookoff, for which entering a dish is free and tasting for the public costs $5.

Mary Slavik, the chief operating officer and president of Big Paws, voiced her excitement last week at expanding the charity’s reach, across the country, and thanked a host of local businesses for help and supplies to get the Aynor site ready.

Question | How did Big Paws get its initial footing off the ground, and spread coast to coast?

Answer | We started in southern California about five years ago, and three years ago in Sioux Falls, then my husband and family moved here in December, and my mother is in Conway. This will be our East Coast location. ...

My husband was a police officer at the time we started this nonprofit, and we had a dear friend who ... ended up in an intensive care unit for 11 months. After numerous surgeries, he physically and mentally gave up; that’s when, with Nitro, our 10-year-old yellow Lab – at the time, he was 3-4 years old and nicknamed Big Paws – we were able to bring him for visits into the facility where our friend was moved, and with help and encouragement from doctors and nurses, we began to see a turnaround in him, and then other patients knew on days when Nitro was coming into the hospital. One of the nurses stopped me to say, “I see more smiles when you walk in with him than I have seen in months.” ...

A couple of years later, my husband. Steven, got injured, and Diesel, our mixed yellow Labrador retriever, who was 5 at the time, had tuned into my husband’s injury. ... So we realized we were onto something.

Q. | How many dogs have you trained and paired up to date?

A. | At last count, we had 32 in South Dakota, 24 in southern California, and five here in Aynor. ... What we like to do is [have] our recipients within a 1-2-hour drive. ... We have developed a community of veterans and first responders who have gone through the same thing.

Q. | How specialized is the training that goes into each partnering with a person?

A. | We work closely with applicants in the early stages, and we customize the training to the veteran or former first responder, ... and as they grow together, we will then tweak the training. ... That’s why we want to keep a 1-2-hour radius.

Q. | How do recipients of dogs also help in the process for awareness of this cause and as other matches develop down the road for other households?

A. | We have our recipients come out to events and share their stories. It allows them to talk about the dogs and themselves, and it’s a much less defensive conversation, because they don’t feel like their personal life is being invaded.

Q. | Where do your miracle-making dogs come from, and just how much work, time and devotion goes into specially training a dog to be paired for life with a person?

A. | We do prefer the dogs come in as puppies, as young as 8 weeks old. Normally, we will get them donated from breeders or shelters, but we are not a rescue agency. We put in a minimum of 2,500 hours per dog, and normally it takes 6-12 months to get them to pass we consider to be public access. There are no government regulations as to what these service dogs need to do, or any kind of certification process. ... Big Paws has created minimum standards to pass our certifications, such as taking our dogs into Lowe’s or a Walmart. We get them used to large noises such as forklifts, and people coming up to them. They need to alert you to a situation that might be going on behind you, but they never, never, never need to react in a vicious or aggressive way. ... And in restaurants, they cannot be distracted by food, drinks, or things being dropped.

Q. | What other reminders go with highlighting one of these dog’s special skills?

A. | It’s a service dog; it’s not a pet. ... We will actually go out to businesses and explain to them what the rights of a service dog and handler are, and what the rights of a business are. ... A service dog has to be trained to do tasks that assists the handler with their daily life. We also will go in [and] assist businesses for dealing with people using dogs that are fake service dogs.

Q. | What other ingredients make up this chili cookoff, and what other outreach plans are in the offing this year?

A. | We will do a people’s choice, a “Big Paws choice,” and we also have invited local businesses to set up as vendors. ... We have a donated raffle prize. ... Our next event will be a pancake breakfast 7:30-10:30 a.m. May 2 at Fatz Cafe (at 2494 Church St. – U.S. 501) in Conway, for $7. We also plan to have a crew at the Mayfest on Main in North Myrtle Beach (May 9), the (World Famous) Blue Crab Festival (May 16-17) in Little River, Conway Riverfest (June 27), and Aynor Harvest Hoedown (Sept. 19).

Q. | How long can such service dogs make a difference as a partner to improve one’s life?

A. | After they’re about 10-11 years old, that’s old age; they want to retire.

Q. | With three outlets now to connect with veterans and former first responders, how will this teamwork branch out even more, thanks to this addition in western Horry County?

A. | We consider Aynor to be the “Red Team,” and the White Team is in South Dakota, and the Blue Team’s in California.

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Chili cookoff in Aynor celebrates Big Paws service dogs’ cause."