SpotOn GPS Fence Honors Service: Samantha & Trooper’s Story

November 5, 2025

REVIEW: Samantha & Trooper’s Story of Healing, Purpose, and Freedom.

When you talk to Samantha, you don’t first hear grief — you hear mission.

She’s active-duty Army, special operations logistics, stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina (now Fort Liberty). Not long ago, she endured the unthinkable: the loss of her son, Christian, during the final month of his validation training at his first duty station with the U.S. Air Force. In the middle of serving her country, she was asked to carry a kind of pain most of us can’t imagine. And yet, through it all, she didn’t ask for special treatment—she asked how to do hard things herself.

Meeting Trooper: “It kind of seemed like it was meant to be.”

A racing enthusiast, Samantha had attended a previous event where she met Freedom, a support dog the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation team (WBWF) had paired with another veteran. This experience stuck with her. She saw what a well-trained support dog could do for someone learning to live with both military demands and personal loss.

But, Samantha didn’t go looking for a free dog. She actually tried to buy one.

Davis, a dog trainer with the WBWF, explains:

"Samantha reached out to the foundation, and basically asked, Tell me what it would take to get a dog like Freedom."
- Davis
Dog Trainer, Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation

That initiative helped the team recognize not only her need, but also her readiness to do the work. Right away, NASCAR driver and WBWF board member Jeb Burton teamed up with trusted partners to see how they could help.

The result: a carefully matched support dog, Trooper, a 9-month-old Golden Retriever trained as an emotional support and working companion. SpotOn was thrilled to step in to make sure Trooper could stay safe, protected, and by Samantha’s side.

The Mission: Safety Without Boundaries

Samantha’s path represents the best of the military community: initiative, service, and a refusal to quit. It also illustrates the tangible, day-to-day power of a trained support dog paired with reliable, portable safety tech. Emotional support and structure can coexist and for an active-duty soldier balancing high-tempo work with personal healing, that combination is priceless.

While support animals change lives, they’re also dogs: curious, energetic, and quick to roam. Keeping them safe, focused, and close is non-negotiable, especially when life shifts between base housing, field training areas, family visits, and new duty stations. For Samantha, this is where purpose meets practicality. Trooper gives her calm and focus; the GPS dog collar can help ensure their freedom never compromises safety.

SpotOn offers:

🛰️ True Location™ Technology pairs GPS data, proprietary AI, and motion sensors to monitor and predict your dog’s movements with pinpoint accuracy - no buried wires or base stations required.

🌄 Portable & flexible: create multiple custom fences in minutes—from a backyard, to a rural property, and even areas that lack strong cellular coverage.

🤳 Reliable alerts & tracking: real-time notifications and precise location to reduce stress and speed up recovery if a dog strays.

🇺🇲 Built tough, built here: engineered and assembled in New Hampshire, with U.S.-based support that picks up the phone and stays with you.

🔋 More time together: long battery life and durable design so the focus stays on training, not charging.

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The Charlotte Moment & What Comes After

At a NASCAR weekend in Charlotte, Jeb Burton and the WBWF introduced Samantha and Trooper with the help of partners who believe in the mission. Races end, headlines fade—but for Samantha, that day wasn’t the finish line. It was the starting flag for everything that came next: healing, partnership, and purpose shared with Trooper.

"I was completely surprised that you guys welcomed me with open arms. My experience thus far with this whole program and being around like-minded people and feeling welcome and being a family and that's what the military is about, and that's everything that this program offers. I know that I have friends for life now."
- Samantha M.

What Freedom Looks Like for Samantha & Trooper

Freedom, for Samantha, is measured in small wins that stack up: a focused training session, a clean recall, a calm evening walk. Freedom is Trooper exploring a new yard within safe boundaries, while Samantha gets the peace of mind she deserves.

For dogs like Trooper, containment isn’t about restriction, it’s about consistency and trust. Add in Manual Feedback (tone, vibration, or optional static) to reinforce training cues, and you get a tool that supports the handler-dog bond, not a replacement for it. With SpotOn, Samantha can:

Draw Fences in the App just once and save it so it's ready for next time.
Set Keep-Out Zones to steer Trooper away from off-limits areas like sheds or ponds.
Track in real time if he leaves the fence, with alerts she can count on.
Move fences with her life—no digging, no installers, no waiting if she moves or travels.

Freedom, Secured with SpotOn

Samantha’s story reminds us that courage isn’t loud. It shows up for duty, makes the call, and keeps going. Trooper is part of that journey now, with his steady presence, bright eyes, tail thump against the door. And when the two of them step outside, SpotOn GPS Dog Fence is right there with them, providing safety without boundaries.

Whether you’re a member of the U.S. military, a veteran, or a first responder who protects your community, we’d be honored to support you too. Verify your eligibility, claim your free tracking plan, and give your dog the freedom to explore safely with SpotOn.