Two programs, one standard: a professionally trained dog, carefully matched, placed at no cost, and supported for life.
A fully trained service dog, placed with a veteran or first responder, at no cost to them.
This is our primary program and where most of our funding goes. A service dog is a working partner trained to help its handler manage the day: interrupting anxiety, creating space in crowds, waking a handler from nightmares, providing a steady point of contact, and getting the person out the door and back into life. For many of the people we serve, the dog is the difference between isolating and engaging.
Based on our 2024 placements, a fully trained service dog costs about $15,000 to procure, train, and place. The recipient pays nothing. Donors and our fundraising partners cover it, and every placement is accounted for line by line on our Open Books page.
A trained detection or patrol K9, donated to a department that can't fund one.
Police dogs retire, get hurt, and age out — and a replacement is a line item many small and mid-sized departments simply don't have. When that happens, the community loses a capability it was counting on. We donate trained K9s so the department keeps its coverage and an officer gets a partner. By 2021 we had donated our tenth police K9.
Placement is the start, not the finish. A dog is a ten-year commitment, and things go wrong — injuries, illness, a handler's circumstances changing. We don't disappear when the dog goes home.
Veterinary visits, preventives, and supplies for dogs in the program, funded from each year's fundraising.
A dedicated reserve for emergencies and assistance involving dogs we've already placed, so a vet bill never puts a partnership at risk.
Check-ins, refresher training when needed, and a direct line to the people who trained the dog.
100% of every gift goes to training and placement. No one at the Foundation is paid.
