Veteran asks for help in finding beloved dog

CAPE CORAL, Fla.- Justin Batdorf is asking for the public’s help in finding his beloved pet he was planning to train as a service dog.

Batdorf suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after seeing combat in Afghanistan in 2013 and early 2014. He adopted a dog from the Lee County animal shelter in February 2014, and that animal, Vada, has helped him tremendously.

“I would sit in the house for three weeks and talk to no one. People said, ‘you need something to connect to.’ So I got Vada, and when I am feeling anxious and stressed and having nightmares, she is there to lick my face and just make me love her,” said Batdorf.

Vada got out of the fenced yard at Batdorf’s rented home in southeast Cape Coral Monday night.   Justin and some friends spent all night, driving neighborhoods, looking for Vada.

He’s putting up flyers in the south Cape, offering a reward for the return of Vada. Batdorf is trying to line up Veteran’s Administration support for Vada to be trained as a service dog. He believes she would make a superb service animal.

“She can sense when I am in a crowd and feeling anxious, and she will watch my back, and she will gently nudge people away if necessary. It is so great to have someone watching your back that way,” said Batdorf.

Batdorf is a generous individual, having just led an effort to raise money for the family of a woman killed in a motorcycle crash. Now, he needs help to find his missing best friend.

If you have information about Vada, a roughly 2-year-old pit bull mix, contact Justin at 239-699-5011 or by email at itsbatdorf@gmail.com.