Assistance Dogs

We are a non-profit organization and the "price" of our dogs reflects the actual cost to obtain, train, place, and follow-up on each dog. We offer our assistance dogs on a sliding scale of 25% to 100% of the dog's price, based on the client's income. Our business model reflects our mission to empower our clients. Additionally, our business model respects and values our donors' contributions. Asking clients to be financially involved...

• empowers clients by giving them a stronger and more influential voice in the outcome and quality of the placements.
• encourages clients to value their assistance dog placements.
• ensures clients have the resources and support system to care for their assistance dogs.
• encourages Eyes Ears Nose and Paws to remain client-focused.
• makes the full cost of training and placing an assistance dog readily apparent to everyone.
• carefully manages our donors' dollars by offering need-based subsidies to clients.

We recognize that our clients are quite likely to be in financial distress, and that a significant percentage of our clients will require subsidies. We also offer payment plans to help clients spread the initial expense of their assistance dog over time.

Individuals who feel they are unable to afford the minimum 25% payment are still encouraged to contact us to discuss options. It is not necessary that the client's portion of the cost come directly from the client. We can receive donations earmarked for a particular client, and we can offer help with fundraising and grant ideas that clients can use to raise money toward their payment for their assistance dog.

We choose dogs that possess qualities that lend themselves to the lives they will be leading as assistance dogs. Generally speaking, assistance dogs in our programs will

• be people-oriented
• want to please their handler
• be able to blend unobtrusively in public settings
• adapt well to new settings

Sometimes, the tasks that the dogs perform require that they be a certain size. For example, a dog that turns on light switches for a client would need to be large enough to reach switches on the wall. In short, we choose dogs with our focus on the end placement --- one that will be of greatest benefit to our clients.

We obtain our dogs from both shelters and breeders. While we would prefer to use dogs from shelter/rescue situations, we will not try to force a fit if the dog does not possess the characteristics needed for successful placement. We rely on quality breeders to fill in the gaps. We will never support puppy mills or poorly managed breeding programs.

Dogs from shelters usually have unknown ancestry. We work primarily with breeders who raise Labrador and Golden Retrievers.

Many people and organizations use the terms service dog and assistance dog interchangeably. However, at Eyes Ears Nose and Paws, we do distinguish between the two terms.

At Eyes Ears Nose and Paws, a service dog is a type of assistance dog that is trained to work with individuals with mobility impairments. Many of these individuals are wheelchair users.

"Assistance dog" is a general term we use to refer to any dog that assists an individual with a specific task or tasks. Types of assistance dogs include guide dogs, hearing dogs, service dogs, and medical alert dogs, among others.