About Us

Our mission statement...

Dogs for the Deaf, Inc.'s mission is to rescue and professionally train dogs to help people and enhance lives, maintaining a lifelong commitment to all dogs we rescue and all people we serve.

At Dogs for the Deaf, we...

• Rescue homeless dogs from shelters
• Provide needed medical care and spaying/neutering
• Train the dogs to help people with a variety of disabilities and challenges
• Place professionally trained dogs with professionals (teachers, physicians, counselors, legal advocates, caregivers) who work with people with various disabilities and challenges.
• Provide 5-6 months of obedience training and specialized training needed for the program each dog is in (visit the Our Dogs pages of this website for more information about our different programs)
• Screen each applicant for a dog very carefully to determine the person's needs, abilities, personality, life style, and ability to care for the dog (see Our Dogs - Application Process page.)
• Match each dog to the best possible applicant for that particular dog
• Take the dog to the client's home and train the client to maintain the dog's skills
• Provide lifetime follow up help and guidance to make sure the team is achieving maximum benefit from each other
• Help the person with the retirement or passing of the old dog and getting a successor dog
• Do not take dogs back to the shelter - all dogs are placed in loving homes.

All of this is done for a minimal $50.00 application fee and a $500.00 Good Faith refundable deposit.

Dogs for the Deaf's investment in each dog includes:

• Finding and evaluating dogs
• Providing all dogs any medical treatment deemed necessary
• Training, socializing, and further evaluating each dog
• Placing the dog with the client and working with the team
• On-going follow-up support for the life of the team.

On average, Dogs for the Deaf's investment in the above amounts to about $25,000.

Dogs for the Deaf is totally funded by donations from individuals, service clubs, groups, bequests, estates, and businesses. Dogs for the Deaf receives no government funding and has a 501(c)(3) rating with the IRS.