When the Maldonado family welcomed Mack, a service dog from Healing4Heroes, they didn’t know how big of an impact he would have. Not only for the husband, but also for their son, Yariel.

Mack, a friendly and loving Yellow Lab/Mountain Cur mix, serviced Nika’s husband, Josue, when the Maldonado family first joined H4H. It wasn’t too long after that when the founder of H4H, Piper Hill, became aware that Nika’s son was diagnosed with high functioning Asperger’s Syndrome.

“Not only was my husband welcomed into the organization, but when they found out Yariel was on the spectrum they opened their doors and wanted him to be part of the family too,” says Nika.

As the Maldonados began their involvement with H4H, it became clear that Mack saw something special in Yariel.

“At the time, Mack was going to work with my husband because he wasn’t off of active duty yet. But as soon as Mack would get home and his vest would come off, he would disappear,” says Nika. 

But disappearing actually meant Mack was on the search for his best friend.

“He was actually servicing both Josue and Yariel. So with that, they gave us another dog and started to send Yariel to their training classes,” Nika explained.

Mack is specifically trained to block and keep distances from people. He’s also trained to find and get help for people who can’t get up. But Mack’s life didn’t always start out with specialized commands and training treats.

“He was a rescue from within H4H because his other family didn’t treat him right. He was starved and kept in a backyard, hardly given any attention. But one of the volunteers for H4H saved Mack. They started to train him on how to do basic commands, so we could work on them together in the future,” Yariel explained.

Josue then became Mack’s first training buddy, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing at first.

“Mack thought he needed to protect, but that wasn’t what my husband needed. Josue would show us some commands, but Mack never seemed too interested in them. But when he started servicing Yariel, we noticed that my son would say the same commands and he was like a puppy running into place, ready for the next one,” says Nika.

Maybe it was Mack’s hard-headed tendencies that made him have selective hearing, but the Maldanados like to think it was Mack realizing who his special person was. 

“It was funny to see how he would work with Yariel versus Josue. Yariel will lay on Mack and Mack will use him as a pillow. They are inseparable,” Nika commented.

Yariel and Mack began training with each other and that’s when Yariel became the first teenager of H4H to also have a service dog. He is now one of three teenagers who has had this opportunity in the organization. After their training in Georgia, the Maldonados picked up their belongings and moved to Tennessee, where they realized the new hardships they would have to face with owning service dogs.

“There were certain rules and regulations that pushed us to get all of our documentation in order. When we got to Yariel’s new school, the first thing we were told by the principal was, ‘he doesn’t look like a service dog,’” says Nika.

It was clear that the school didn’t want Mack there and didn’t see Yariel to have a need for him, which caused the Maldonados to run into issues.

The family escalated their issues all the way up to the state of Tennessee court system, but their voices and documentation still received push back from lawyers. The school feared Mack because he was perceived as a distraction to the students. But it wasn’t too long after, that the Maldonados actually found out that the real reason behind the push back was because a school administrator was deathly afraid of dogs. 

Yariel’s school was finally told that Mack was coming, whether they liked it or not. The Maldonados appreciated this win greatly, with Mack finally joining Yariel after Thanksgiving break.

Upon his arrival, Yariel wrote a letter to the school explaining more about Mack and how the students could better adjust to this change. Intended to be read over the intercom, it was written in the voice of Mack and why he was here for Yariel.

“It talked about how if I bark, don’t be alarmed or I’m here to get my handler’s attention so please don’t pet or distract me. Mack and I went through all four years of high school together. He became so loved by everyone and a favorite student,” says Yariel.

It was acts of kindness like looking down at Mack’s vest and seeing Slim Jim’s or dollar bills hanging out, that showed Yariel that the school and students accepted and loved Mack. Mack even went so far as to get elected for the most memorable in the school yearbook. And memorable he was, seeing as he even had his own school ID. 

Both Yariel and Mack graduated from high school this past year, and as of their graduation date, Mack has officially been retired as a service dog, but he still resides with Yariel providing him with personal assistance and lots of love. 

“Before Mack, Yariel couldn’t look people in the eye. He wouldn’t speak to anyone. Mack not only did his job, but also helped Yariel communicate and open up to talking,” explained Nika.

For Yariel, it was realizing how much he actually needed Mack.

“He has impacted my life in a pretty big way. He’s been there for me throughout my rough times and it has helped me grow as a person. Mack helped me walk around and talk to others. It made socializing so much easier,” says Yariel.

The Maldonados don’t know what they would do if they didn’t have Mack. For them, it was the training transformation that really changed their view. For as much as Mack has saved Yariel, the Maldonados know they saved Mack too. 

When the Maldonados started this journey with Mack, he was the first service dog in a high school throughout all of Tennessee. Today, there’s now a service dog a couple of towns over who goes to school and another high school is beginning to train emotional support dogs.

Nika says that they definitely spend their time educating others about service dogs because of the pushback they’ve received from local establishments in the past. 

“We’ve been very limited on restaurants and other places where we live. I know that there’s a large quantity of fake service dogs out there, which makes it more difficult for families like us,” says Nika.

But one way the Maldonados overcame these types of obstacles was by going to different restaurants, sitting down with owners and educating them on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws. 

“We want to educate people versus having them look at us as a problem,” says Nika. 

The Maldonados also expanded on how nice it is knowing somebody at H4H is always there for them.

“Joining H4H was the best decision my husband made. We appreciated that as soon as Mack started taking care of my son, they worked fast to find a replacement dog to help Josue. It means a lot that Piper adjusted how they run the organization, being that they are primarily for service members, but she decided to help my son too,” Nika commented.

So as Yariel and Mack enjoy their “retirement”, Yariel also plans to start looking for a job so he can work with cars more, as he is very interested in the modification of custom car making. He also notes that Mack will continue to be by his side, as he has a long life ahead of him with his favorite person. 

If you’re interested in staying up to date with Mack and Yariel’s journey, the Maldonados ask you to follow Mack’s travels through his Instagram account, mack_the_goodest_boi. Here, you can find pictures of Mack in the school yearbook, different places wearing hats, dressed up in the principal’s chair, but most importantly, living his happiest and best life with Yariel.

To read more stories like Yariel and Mack’s, check out Healing4Heroes blog. H4H is fully funded by donations from individual and corporate sponsors. To make a difference in a veterans or service dog’s life, donate to H4H today.