My wife and I founded the nonprofit, Pawsitivity Service Dogs, five years ago after a good friend, a single mother with a child with autism, told us the story how her boy was so greatly helped by his dog that it changed the course of his life. We then discovered that there was no autism service dog provider in the state(!), nor any in any of the surrounding states. The challenges to solve this problem, however, seemed insurmountable. Whew! Getting trained service dogs into the hands of the people who need them so badly it would take not just dogs, not just trainers, but also a whole coordinated system of organization. How to fight the Goliath of regulations, fundraising, insurance, licensing, communication, the costs of training and a decade of support, as well as the emotional strength to manage the years of pain, tears, and heartache of working with both dogs and disabilities?
Luckily, we had one thing on our side--the power of leveraging the community of dog-lovers. With our nonprofit's unique model of relying heavily on volunteers (yay!), we found help in many ways: Grand Avenue Veterinary Center vowed to manage the spaying and neutering, Garrison Keillor donated autographed items to be auctioned off, John D. Docken VP and Corporate Counsel of First Intl. Bank & Trust of ND, MN, and AZ advised on compliance, the Minnesota Wild awarded Pawsitivity "Charity of the Month". Together, we discovered that unwanted dogs can be rescued and rehabilitated, the dogs and families can be trained to work as effective dog-handler teams, and experts can be used in every step of the way. And Pawsitivity discovered that you, too, can be a part of the solution. 100% of the proceeds of our books will go directly to rescuing dogs. Thank you for your support!