FAQ
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What inspired you to start paws4peopleTM at age 12?
How did prisoners become involved?
How do the dogs help children w/ disabilities and war veterans?
Do you charge for your services?
What’s the hardest part of the training process?
How much does a dog cost?
Will you help me train my dog?
I trained my own Service Dog, will you certify it so I can take it out in public?
Can my dog and I be part of paws4peopleTM ?
How do you match clients and dogs?
What is a “bump?”
What makes a dog a Service Dog?
Where do your dogs come from?
What breeds of dogs do you use?
What do you do with the dogs who fail?
Are your dogs insured?
Do you train Seizure Dogs?
Can a dog carry more than one certification?
What is the mission of paws4peopleTM foundation?
What is an Assistance Dog?
Can I help by training a puppy?
Can I get a paws4peopleTM Assistance Dog?
Where are you located?
How long is your waiting list?
What inspired you to start paws4peopleTM at age 12?
I was one of those kids that had to do some arm-twisting to get my first puppy, and I’m an only child, so my parents really followed through with assigning me the training and care-taking responsibilities. When I was 12 I took my dog to a local nursing home and I saw how he made the people there so happy. I could appreciate that he was lighting up their lives in a way that was different than what any person could do.
How did prisoners become involved?
I went off to college in West Virginia where I was introduced to staff of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They asked me if I could start a program where inmates would train the dogs within the prison. I realized it would greatly increase the number of dogs we could train. We now have programs in five federal prisons. That’s where the dogs are trained from puppyhood, and then they come to us for final training.
How do the dogs help disabled children and war veterans?
We train and place service dogs so they are customized to a person who has a specific disability. We aim to place dogs with disabled war veterans and we also specialize in children under the age of 14 who have physical and neurological disabilities. … We’ve gotten really good at training our dogs so special education teachers can utilize them in the classroom.
Do you charge for your services?
Right now we have operations in nine states and we have over 175 dogs certified. We don’t charge anyone for dogs or services so we rely on donations
What’s the hardest part of the training process?
Training the person [to work with the dog] is the hardest part. The dogs are pretty predictable.
How much does a dog cost?
There is no cost associated with receiving a paws4peopleTM Assistance Dog. However, all clients do agree to participate in a Public Awareness Campaign to educate their community about the role of their Assistance Dog in their life. The client may choose, but is not required, to hold awareness and/or fundraising events or solicit donations to offset the cost to paws4peopleTM for training their dog. No minimum donation level is required, and donation status does not affect graduation date of a dog. We do not believe in charging our clients for their dogs, but do believe in the “sweat equity” model, which is achieved through public awareness and advocacy. After placement, clients are financially responsible for the care and well-being of their dog (veterinary care, training equipment, food, creature comforts, etc.)
Will you help me train my dog?
At the current time, paws4peopleTM does not have the capacity to assist private individuals with the training needs for their privately owned dogs. We are supported by a network of very experienced dog trainers, many of whom have other dog training businesses. We recommend and endorse the following trainers/businesses for pet dog training needs:
T’s Dog Training, LLC, In-home training, Northern VA
Doggy Do Right, Leesburg, VA
The Dog Wizard, Charlotte, NC
Einstein’s K-9, Wilmington, NC
Bougie’s Canine Companion Training, Jacksonville, NC
I trained my own Service Dog, will you certify it so I can take it out in public?
As Service Dogs, and their accompanying ADA Access Rights, become better known, these rights are often being abused – either by people misrepresenting their true need to be accompanied by a dog in public, or by dogs without adequate training, behavior, and skills sets frequenting public places. This abuse dilutes the true use of the Service Dog in society. As such, we strive to exceed and further very high standards for our Assistance Dogs, and expect the same appropriate use and behavior from all Assistance Dog handlers exercising ADA Public Access Rights. We do not recommend or endorse personal training of Service Dogs. At this time, we do not evaluate, assist in training, certify, or insure “personally trained” dogs as paws4peopleTM Service Dogs upon request. Under some circumstances, on very rare occasions and on a case-by-case basis (at the determination of the Executive Director, paws4peopleTM foundation), dogs which have received formal training through non-paws4people foundation training programs may be evaluated and granted certain paws4peopleTM foundation certifications; up to and including Service Dog certifications.
Can my dog and I be part of paws4peopleTM ?
People with privately owned and trained dogs can, have their dog evaluated to become a member of our Operational Teams. These teams consist of privately owned dogs who meet and exceed our evaluations to become Educational Assistance or Social Therapy Dogs and visit schools, nursing homes, hospice facilities, etc. If you would like to participate with these visiting Operations Teams and reside in the Northern Virginia, Charlotte, NC, or Wilmington, NC areas, please [Contact Us->contact-us] and you will be put in touch with the Director in your area. NOTE: Being part of an Ops Team does NOT grant a dog Service Dog certification or accompanying Public Access Rights under the ADA.
How do you match clients and dogs?
We believe in allowing dogs to choose their job. Our philosophy is that you can decide when your child is five that you are going to make it possible for them to go to college; but, you can’t decide when your child is five that they are going to be a brain surgeon. That is what we do with our dogs – we send them to college, and we let them choose their major. Likewise, we let them tell us who they want to work for.
What is a “bump?”
A bump is the process of a dog choosing their partner. Bumps traditionally take place at our training locations, almost always in the correctional institution where the dog is being trained. This is done so that the potential client is the only “variable” in the dogs’ perception and environment during the bump. Dogs who are identified as having the potential to fulfill the particular client’s needs are considered for the bump. During a bump, dogs are introduced to the potential client and family in turn. paws4peopleTM staff and trainers observe for bonding behaviors. Over the course of the bump, a strong bond is almost always identified. Once this relationship is prolonged and confirmed in the eyes of the client and staff, the dog is matched with that client. The rest of the dog’s training is spent customizing its skills for the needs of that particular client and, assuming that all graduation requirements are met during the duration of the dogs training, graduation is planned and a successful team is created!
What makes a dog a Service Dog?
The Department of Justice has just redefined the ADA definition of a Service Animal and requirements for them to gain legal public access. Our internal standards for Service Dog certification is even more rigid. To see what makes a paws4peopleTM Service Dog, see our [Types of Dogs Trained->types-of-dogs-trained].
Where do your dogs come from?
Assistance Dogs are acquired from:
the paws4peopleTM Assistance Dog Breeding Program. A custom blood-line breeding program specifically developed to produce dogs with the personality, temperament, and disposition suitable for Assistance Dog work, a specially chosen breeder (either via donation or purchase) whose blood-lines and pedigrees have been carefully researched to produce dogs with the required personality, temperament, disposition, and confirmation suitable for Assistance Dog work, or, the Shelter/Rescue Program.
What breeds of dogs do you use?
When we seek dogs from our relationships with breeders as well as choose the dogs who build our internal breeding program, we use carefully selected lines of Golden and Labrador Retrievers. These breeds respond best to our training philosophies and tactics and, over the past decade, have had the highest graduation rates in our programming as Assistance Dogs. The neotinized nature of these breeds means that even at maturity, they function as “toddlers” in temperament, fulfilling a parent-child relationship with their client. For the type of jobs we are asking dogs to do, this parent-child relationship is preferred over a master-dog relationship common in many of the higher-arousal working dog breeds. Of course, if you can’t tell yet, we are very outside-the-box thinkers, and there are exceptions to every rule. Throughout our programs, and especially within the shelter/rescue components of our programs, you will see various types of this-and-that breeds. As well, privately-owned dogs who are part of our Ops Team chapters can range in breed from chihuahuas to mastiffs! So, although we are not exclusive to Labs and Goldens, they do make up a majority of the dogs wearing paws4peopleTM vests!
What do you do with the dogs who fail?
Unlike many programs you may have heard of, paws4peopleTM does not have any “flunk out” or “release” dogs. It was very important to us, as paws4peopleTM formed and grew, that notoriously low graduation rates, selling of release dogs, and returns from poorly-matched Service Dog teams be avoided. For this reason, many people refer to us as having a “quality, not quantity” philosophy. This is very true, as we keep our training numbers low so that dogs can receive the maximum level of customized training; we keep graduation rates slow so that clients have individualized transfer training and follow-up care rather than a systematized process; and we allow the dogs to choose their jobs and their people so that the likelihood of failed partnerships is all-but non-existent. Also, since we train such varied types of Assistance Dogs which require vastly different temperaments and skill sets, dogs who complete our training program inevitably possess one of the necessary skill sets. This approach has allowed us to maintain a very high certification rate:
- Puppies who are born in our internal Breeding Program and begin training literally the day of birth have a 99.9% graduation rate as Rehabilitative Assistance Dog level or higher. (Meaning, there has not yet been one of these dogs who has not graduated as an Assistance Dog; but we’re too superstitious to say 100%!)
- Dogs who are obtained from selected breeders and enter the training programs at seven to twelve weeks of age have above an 85% graduation rate as Rehabilitative Assistance Dog level or higher.
- Dogs who are obtained from shelters or rescue groups to enter our training programs have above a 60% graduation rate as Rehabilitative Assistance Dog level or higher.
- Dog who are unable to meet our stringent criteria for Assistance Dog certifications are places as Community Dogs within our system. These dogs are placed as in-home only companions with senior citizens, families with members with disabilities, or paws4peopleTM volunteers. Therefore, they are still fulfilling paws4peopleTM missions of providing some level of therapeutic intervention.
Are your dogs insured?
All of our dogs and handlers are covered by paws4people’sTM liability insurance policy when fulfilling their certified paws4peopleTM activities. This means that Educational Assistance Dogs and their handlers are under insurance when working at a school; Rehabilitative Facility Dogs and their handlers are under insurance when working with patients; and Service Dogs and their handlers are under insurance at all times. For these reasons, paws4peopleTM maintains ownership of Service Dogs and some Rehabilitative Assistance Dogs for their working lives. We do not feel it is responsible to relinquish ownership, making the clients personally liable for behaviors of their dogs who are working under rights granted by the ADA. In turn, this allows us to require annual re certification of Public Access Rights as well as monitor that the dogs care, health, weight, exercise, training refreshers, and other contractual obligations are being maintained by the client. Due to this lifetime monitoring and follow-up, paws4peopleTM is able to assist the client in deciding when a dog should retire from service; as this decision is a very hard one when left to the client alone. Should the dog’s well-being be compromised at any time, paws4peopleTM can and will repossess custody immediately.
Do you train Seizure Dogs?
The term “seizure dog” can mean many things, and is often misrepresented. paws4peopleTM does not, at this time, train dogs to pre-alert to or respond to diabetic seizures.
paws4peopleTM also does not train dogs to pre-alert to epileptic seizures. We do train dogs to respond to epileptic seizures by doing any number of tasks needed by that client; for example alerting a parent, bringing the phone, opening the garage door, etc.
It is paws4people’sTM philosophy that dogs ARE able to pre-alert to epileptic seizures. In fact, many of our dogs perform this skill reliably. HOWEVER, it is not possible to “train” dogs to do this, because modern medicine cannot yet identify the stimulus (hormone excretion, neurological change, etc.) that consistently precedes this type of seizure activity. Without presence of a known and proven stimulus by which to train a dog, actual training cannot occur. This is why, in order to maintain the highest level of professional honesty and trust with our clients, we do not profess to train epileptic seizure alert skills – only response skills.
Can a dog carry more than one certification?
Yes, many of our clients require a dog to perform tasks requiring multiple certifications. For instance, a Mobility Assistance Dog may also perform Seizure Response skills. Or, a Balance Assistance Dog may attend school with their partner, so the dog would also be certified as an Educational Assistance Dog. Any customized “hybrid” Assistance Dog from the skills within our [Types of Dogs Trained->types-of-dogs-trained] is possible.
What is the mission of paws4peopleTM foundation?
Our mission is to provide highly trained, customized, and insured Assistance Dogs to people with disabilities, as well as clinical and education professionals serving people with disabilities. Furthermore, we work to exceed industry training and utilization standards for all of our Assistance Dogs, and to increase the public’s knowledge about the important roles these dogs serve within society.
What is an Assistance Dog?
An [Assistance Dog->types-of-dogs-trained] is a dog, carrying any number of specific training certifications, who provides services to an individual or group. In short, “Assistance Dog” is the umbrella term for working dogs. To learn about the types of Assistance Dogs we train and place, including Psychiatric Service Dogs, Mobility Service Dogs, Seizure Response Dogs, Rehabilitative Assistance Dogs, Educational Assistance Dogs, and Social Therapy Dogs, please see our [Types of DOGs Trained page->types-of-dogs-trained].
Can I help by training a puppy?
Our program does not utilize the “puppy raiser” model as some others do. Instead, our dogs’ training takes place in in-house training programming. If you have a dog training background and are located near one of our training locations and would like to inquire about volunteering your time, please use the [Contact Us->contact-us] page.
Can I get a paws4peopleTM Assistance Dog?
Due to our high standards of lifetime follow-up training and care, we will only place DOGs within the geographic areas in which our trainers can serve. Currently, placements will be considered in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Please carefully review our [Types of DOGs Trained->types-of-dogs-trained] to determine whether you think we provide the type of Assistance Dog you, your child, or a loved one are in need of. If you find a fit, follow these instruction to apply for a DOG.
- If you are a veteran, active duty service member, or parent of an active duty dependent residing in our area of service, please download and complete the [paws4vets Application package->how-to-get-a-dog]. Upon receipt of a complete application package, the applicant will be contacted to discuss the next steps in the client process.
- If you are a civilian, parent of a civilian, occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech pathologist, teacher, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, counselor, or other care professional, please download and complete the [paws4people Application package->how-to-get-a-dog]. Upon receipt of a complete application package, the applicant will be contacted to discuss the next steps in the client process.
Where are you located?
paws4peopleTM is made possible through a network of volunteers. Our current area of operation and locations of our [paws4prisons->paws4prisons] is [here->paws4prisons] and [Wounded Warrior ADTP training programs->wounded-warrior-assistance-dog-training-program] can be found here.
