Honoring the past. Investing in the future.
Paws of War secures land for permanent training and community center
After operating on donated land for the past five years, Paws of War Eastern North Carolina will finally have a permanent home base to provide dog training services for disabled veterans and first responders.
Founded in 2014, Paws of War is a nonprofit organization with chapters in Florida, New York and North Carolina. The organization aims to help veterans and first responders by providing them with service dogs, while rescuing and rehabilitating dogs and cats in dire situations.
Since its founding in 2021, Paws of War Eastern North Carolina has created unbreakable bonds by uniting rescued dogs with disabled veterans and first responders. They have rescued dogs who are running out of time in shelters to pair them with heroes as companion and service dogs – offering full training through a specialized program, which is provided at no cost to those they serve.
Bill and Jackie O’Brien operate Paws of War in eastern North Carolina, relying on donated land from businesses and residents in the area. Currently, they train at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Havelock, a residential property in Swansboro and public areas in New Bern.
Although the training program runs smoothly with donated property, Jackie O’Brien said a permanent location is imperative for the longevity of Paws of War Eastern North Carolina.
“Bill and I, we can’t do this forever. We’re in our 60s and at some point, we’re going to have to turn this over,” she said. “We’ve seen how it’s changed people’s lives and we don’t want it to stop because of us, we want it to live beyond us.”
For about three years now, Bill and Jackie O’Brien have been searching for the perfect location to open a permanent training and community center.
On June 23rd, the couple closed on a property in New Bern, located at 1101 Pine Tree Drive, which is adjacent to the West New Bern Recreation Center.
Jackie O’Brien said the property is perfect, due to its central location for Paws of War clients, who are located across eastern North Carolina in Havelock, Jacksonville, James City, Morehead City, New Bern, Richlands and Winterville.
However, securing the property was a long process. In March, the O’Brien’s began working with the city to rezone 1101 Pine Tree Drive from residential to commercial.
They initially made a rezoning request for C-3 Commercial, which is a zoning typically applied to the city’s major roads, but the board denied this request because it was inconsistent with the city’s land use plan.
At this time, C-3 was the only zoning option that would allow for outdoor animal uses with a special use permit, but because it also allows high density uses, it wasn’t an ideal solution for a residential area.
At this board meeting on March 10, ten residents spoke in support of Paws of War and their mission, urging the city to find a solution that allows Paws of War to use the property. Alderman Trey Ferguson spoke up and asked if city staff could create a text amendment to the C-5 commercial zone that would allow Paws of War to create its training and community center – without applying a high density zoning use.
The board unanimously approved a motion to direct staff to initiate a text amendment for service therapy and animal training for C-5.
In April, the New Bern Planning and Zoning Board approved changes to the city’s land use ordinance that allow dog training uses to the C-5, C-4 and C-6 commercial zoning districts as a special use.
The rezoning request from R-10A to C-5 at 1101 Pine Tree Drive was approved by the board of aldermen during its June meeting.
Next, Bill and Jackie O’Brien will request a special use permit to build the training and community center.
“Before the aldermen meeting, I remember thinking that this is bigger than any of us, so, there has to be a solution to this,” Jackie O’Brien said. “ “We really appreciate everything that the board and the city and everybody has done, and all our supporters.”
The training and community center will also increase the organization’s capacity, allowing more people to get through the program faster.
“Right now, we train outside, so we’re subject to weather, like if it’s too hot, too cold, rainy or snowy, we have to cancel classes,” Jackie O’Brien said.
Even with weather cancellations, Jackie O’Brien said Paws of War reached a milestone last year and hosted 300 classes. A total of 12 teams graduated to service dog level and were recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act as service animals.
Since 2021, Paws of War has trained about 180 dog teams, Jackie O’Brien said. Some teams go through the entire training program to graduate with an official service dog, while others stop at level 1 basic training or level 2 advanced obedience.
Dave Garvey, a Marine Corps veteran and Paws of War program manager, is a few months shy of completing the service dog training program with his furry companion, Mandy.
Garvey first heard about Paws of War around 2022, when a veteran service officer in Craven County recommended the service dog program.
Garvey and his wife initially joined the program together, but he took a break after unsuccessful attempts to train his first dog, Athena. Garvey restarted the training program with Mandy, who is expected to graduate in December.
Garvey was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and suffered with symptoms like severe depression, but said Mandy and Paws of War have made a positive difference in his life.
“This program is unlike other programs. It builds your confidence, it builds a bond between you and a dog, it’s a great program,” Garvey said. “I’ve seen the difference it makes in other veterans’ lives that we impact.”
In January of 2025, Garvey began volunteering with Paws of War and eventually took on a role as the program manager.
Garvey and another veteran in the Paws of War program are both participating in a train the trainer program to help alleviate the workload of current trainers, Bill O’Brien and Ruth Ann Bonebrake.
Owner and Lead Trainer Lauren Klein, with K9 Reflection, also trains dog teams for Paws of War, specializing in service dog tasks.
“Everybody in the organization that’s volunteering, other than a couple, are members of dog training,” Garvey explained. “We’re just trying to give back to what we’ve been given. That’s what we want, we want to help as many veterans as we can.”
This new Paws of War training and community center will only increase their ability to help more veterans and first responders.
Jackie O’Brien said her husband, Bill, has a clear vision for the center and has already started mapping out the facility.
A majority of the building will be an open space training arena with temporary partitions to accommodate one-on-one training activities. Building plans include a kitchen, restrooms and a dog wash station.
Plans also include an outdoor training area, which will have a rustic, barndominium-like aesthetic, with various fenced-in areas for different training activities. There may also be an outdoor agility area, with equipment like tunnels and jumps, Jackie O’Brien said.
There are also some beautiful trees on the property that the O’Brien’s plan to keep and surround with benches or fountains.
“We just want to make it a nice, relaxing place,” she said.
Jackie O’Brien said they will still utilize public areas in New Bern for training, because service dog teams must be evaluated on their ability to remain focused in crowded areas.
Although they are still in the planning phase for the training and community center, Jackie O’Brien said they have an estimated project budget of about $500,000 at this time – excluding the cost of the land, which was about $175,000.
Jackie O’Brien said the entire Paws of War volunteer team is excited to see this project come to life.
“We envision that we’re going to have more trainers and more consistent training, so, we’re going to graduate people faster,” she said.
Follow the Paws of War journey on social media as they make a big step forward and learn more about the organization on their website.
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