Shelter to Solider trains Morale Dogs at USS Midway Museum

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Shelter to Soldier is a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from local shelters and trains them to help provide life-changing support to our active-duty military and veterans in need.

This year, the organization launched its Morale Dogs program, in which specially trained dogs are placed aboard U.S. Navy vessels to boost morale among active-duty service members.

"We are placing pre-trained dogs on ships here in San Diego as a part of the crew," said Director of Operations for Shelter to Soldier, Nikki Moore. "They get to bring some smiles to the crew every day."

They looked no further than the USS Midway Museum when seeking a place to train the dogs so they could navigate a ship.

"I wish when I was in the Navy, we had a dog for morale on our ship," said David Koontz, Director of Communications for the Midway Museum.

The dogs have been coming a few times a week to complete training on the decommissioned vessel-turned-museum.