CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – When Peggy Law found herself recovering from a serious injury, she came to realize a very hard truth, one that has motivated her life’s work since then.

“Life can change very, very quickly,” Law said. “Life can change in an instant.”

After recovering from facial fractures she suffered after being kicked by a horse, Law dedicated herself to a pursuit that combined her desire to help others with her love for animals. So, in 2000, working out of her garage with four puppies, she founded the nonprofit Service Dogs of Virginia. Law’s organization raises, trains and then assigns service dogs in five different disciplines.

It takes Law’s group an average of two years to train a service dog, at a cost of $40,000 per animal. Since 2020, the organization has placed over 120 trained service dogs.

Dogs can be trained to assist people who are wheelchair bound or have other physical disabilities.

“The dogs are really an extra pair of hands,” Law said. “They can open doors. They can open the fridge. They can pick up things someone has dropped.” 

The service dogs can be taught to alert people to changes in their health and medical conditions, detecting blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes, low cortisol levels or even elevated mast cell reactions, warning of an impending medical situation.

“It’s something dogs can do and people can’t,” Law said.

Dogs can also be trained to be companions to provide comfort for children and young adults with autism and can help anchor children to avoid them running away. They can perform similar support for military veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD.

And some dogs, including a 79-pound fox red Labrador named Maggie, do the versatile work of being facility dogs, versed in a wide variety of support services.

“The magic of the service dogs and the magic of Maggie is that her training allows her to be gentle and centered,” said Lisa Beitz, executive director of Region 10’s community service board, which works with Maggie. “Maggie shows up as calm and centered and intent on understanding if you’re OK.”

Beitz’s organization began working with Service Dogs of Virginia after seeing firsthand the impact the animals could have. Four years ago, Beitz said Region 10 staff members were on the scene of a critical incident.

“We were there and we watched service dogs be able to provide a level of support and comfort immediately after the incident in a way that was more impactful than what we could do in the moment,” she said. “That’s how it started.”

Now, it’s grown.

Saturday night, Service Dogs of Virginia will hold its “Art Unleashed Auction,” selling 20 dog statues painted by area artists. The sold-out event will be at the CODE Building, where the art has been on display this week, but people can bid on the statues online.

The goal is to raise funds to support the organization’s mission and to help it build a new, standalone facility that will allow it to double the number of service dogs it can send out into the community.

“It’s been a dream of mine for 26 years and it’s finally going to be possible,” Law said.