Mars dog retreat delivers ‘Canines for Courage’
ADAMS TWP — Pauly, a small white English Labrador, is one of many dogs roaming around a 3,000-square-foot dog day care and boarding facility in Adams Township.
Some of the dogs are staying for a few hours for “doggie day care,” while others are staying for a few nights for boarding, but whenever Pauly leaves the facility at 544 Valencia Road, it will be in the arms of an American hero who will need him and love him dearly.
Pauly is one of the dogs that has been donated to Canines for Courage, a nonprofit organization which — as the name suggests — puts dogs in the hands of people such as military service members, veterans, first responders, doctors and nurses.
The charity formally started as a 501(c)(3) two years ago. However, for three years prior to that, it already was operating on an unofficial basis.
“For the first three years, we donated them for free and just gave them to people in the community,” said Colin Zedreck, a co-owner of Berkley Creek Pet Retreat.
The seeds for Canines for Courage began in 2018, when the organization’s president, Pierre Khoury, got an idea.
The previous fall, Debbi Martell had received a dog from Berkley Creek. Later that year, on Christmas Day 2017, her husband, Lee Martell — who served with the Marine Corps in Vietnam — died unexpectedly. Khoury caught wind of this, as he is a close friend of Zedreck’s.
"She was a very nice woman and became a close friend of ours,“ Khoury said. ”I knew the following Christmas was going to be a very difficult time for her.“
To make the following Christmas less painful, Khoury and Zedreck reached out to the Butler VA Healthcare System to find a military family who was looking for a dog. During Christmas 2018, Colin gave away one of his puppies to the family on Martell’s behalf.
“I called Debbi on Christmas Eve and said, ‘Hey, would you like to come over and have coffee and hang out?’” Khoury said. “She didn’t know this, but I had arranged for that family to receive their dog at the same time. And it was a surprise for her.”
When he isn’t helping run Canines, Khoury works as a real estate agent in Cranberry Township. Prior to this, Khoury spent 10 years in the U.S. Armed Forces, so he understands the need for service personnel and other community heroes to have a four-legged friend.
“Our definition of a hero is very broad,” Khoury said. “Someone who’s served in the community, served our nation, done something that could be extraordinary, or a lot of times stuff that’s just been looked over.”
Khoury said potential recipients of canines from the organization are nominated by members of the community. The board of directors, that now includes Martell, looks over the nomination to make sure the individual would be able to give the canine a good home.
Like Pauly, all of the dogs at Canines for Courage are English Labradors, and according to Khoury, there is a good reason for this.
“We do that because our recipients are in need of either companion pets, or eventually service dogs,” Khoury said. “And we found that this breed of dogs and their lineage really plays well into that.”
The Berkley Creek Pet Retreat has been in operation since October 2017. However, it wasn’t until March of this year that the establishment moved into Butler County. Before then, the retreat was located in New Castle.
Colin and Erin Zedreck said they moved into the Mars area to get closer to their roots, as they have both professional and personal ties to the area. Colin graduated from Mars Area High School in 2004, while Erin works for the Mars Area School District as an athletic trainer.
It was Khoury, as their friend and real estate agent, who found them a place in Adams Township.
“Moving here was very much a homecoming for us,” Colin said. “We were coming back to our home where we grew up.”
Khoury said Canines for Courage is still looking for donations, as well as potential nominations and volunteers to help the mission run smoothly.
“We’re looking for local volunteers who want to get involved and grow our organization and take it to the next level,” Khoury said.
