Anthony Ramos has a deep appreciation for military veterans, but he is looking to do more. In honor of Service Dog Awareness Month (which began in September), the 31-year-old actor and singer partnered up with Purina Dog Chow to celebrate the finalists of this year’s Dog Chow Visible Impact Award, which recognizes the impact service dogs have on the lives of military veterans experiencing PTSD. PopCulture.com spoke to Ramos about the partnership and why it means so much to him.ย
“Purina’s doing is really dope, man,” Ramos told PopCulture. “I mean, a lot of veterans, they come back and they have PTSD, right? And I think it’s proven that dogs reduce the symptoms of that. So, what they’re doing, they got this Visible Impact Award, and it’s really cool because they donate into basically they’re like telling families, veterans, families of veterans they’re like, ‘Vote, who you think is the best service dog, the service dog that’s done the most amazing things or amazing things that you’ve seen.’”
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Dog lovers have until Oct. 13 to vote for the winner of the Visible Impact Award (the link can be found here). For every vote, Purina Dog Chow will donate $5 to the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans (ASDPMV), up to $75,000, to help train more PTSD service dogs. The winning service dog’s veteran will receive a $10,000 cash prize and $25,000 for the organization that trained the service dog. The finalists are Huey (Operation Freedom Paws), Eagle (K9s for Warriors), Phelan (Tails of Valor, Paws of Honor), Maverick (K9 Partners for Patriots) and Bobby (Pawsitive Teams).ย
Ramos loves being part of this because many of his family members served in the military. “Most of my uncles, my father served, who just passed away recently, he served in the military and his dad,” the Transformers star said. “My grandfather served in the 65th Infantry. They were called the Borinqueneers. And yeah, then my father served as well, all his brothers, his cousins, my mom’s brother-in-law. So, I got a long line of veterans in my family who all have dogs.”
“And they love them. So, it’s why I was like, I think this is really special. It is really special what they’re doing. And it’s awesome that they care. They really care. They’re showing that they care, right? And making these donations and making it so easy, right? Again, so easy for people to just, you cast a vote, boom, that’s $5. It was nothing for you, right? It is no effort. So, I just was like, this is really special. This is really special what they’re doing.”
