On a Trip to Colorado with My New Service Dog, I Knew I’d Come Full Circle
By Jason Haag
The first trip I ever made with my service dog, Axel, was to Breckenridge, Colorado in winter. I’d accepted an invitation for a ski spectacular, one of many outdoor events put on by organizations around the country for wounded and disabled veterans to aid in their recovery.
I didn’t yet realize how far I’d come in just a few months. I’d spent much of the last two years prior to the trip confined to my basement. Getting Axel had forced me out of my home and my comfort zone—so much that I’d voluntarily boarded a plane for a weeklong trip in snowy Colorado.
Axel in Colorado in 2013.
As I lounged in my hotel room with Axel one evening after a day of snowboarding, we looked at each other. He raised one of his eyebrows. I knew, for the first time since I’d been on the frontlines of the invasion of Iraq, that I was going to be all right—that the sky was the limit for us.
Axel didn’t cure me of all my symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. But he did make it possible for me to live with them—something all the medications and therapies that came before had failed to do.
Axel and I would travel to Colorado dozens of times over the years, each trip a little easier than the one before it. My service dog made so many things possible during our more than 10 years together. If not for the healing he provided me, Leashes of Valor would not exist.
When Axel died in January 2023, I put off thoughts of getting another service dog. That all changed a few months later when LOV ended up with six gorgeous Golden retriever puppies—five girls and one boy, who we called Maverick.
That spring, Maverick and I looked at each other—much the way Axel and I had so long ago—and I knew. He would be my new service dog, accompanying me everywhere, including on my first visit to Colorado since Axel’s death.
Maverick in Colorado in 2024 after a rainstorm.
Maverick and I arrived on a beautiful day in August. I’m stating the obvious here, but Colorado is vastly different when there aren’t four feet of snow on the ground. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such vibrant shades of green. While much of the country sweltered under a heat wave, the temperatures in Colorado during our stay hovered around 70 degrees.
Maverick and I stayed for a week—this time golfing with another organization that works with wounded and disabled veterans. He never left my side.
Axel was gone, but I knew I had come full circle. With his help, and with the help of so many others, I’d survived the winter of my recovery. Now here I was in summer, helping others in their own journeys toward the light.
Jason Haag is a retired Marine Corps captain and founder and CEO of Leashes of Valor.