Help YSDI make Service Dog Dreams come True
Tax deductible
Your Service Dog Inc (YSDI) really does make Service Dog Dreams come true at a cost of $0.00 for those who qualify for the placement of a Service Dog, as the organizations' funds permit.
COVID -19 is taking its toll at this time, on the people we serve and on their families. Your Service Dog Inc does not just train full Potential Service Dogs but also seeks to help each and every disabled Service Dog Handler reach his or her own Full Human Potential.
YSDI is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities.
We need funds to help us sustain our Services at this time and we especially need funds for our Emergency Aid Program which helps those of our disabled Handlers who are in dire need.
Your Service Dog Inc serves a sector of the community.
who are most vulnerable to COVID-19. Please help in any way you can
YSDI helps disabled persons to obtain and train a Service Dog Partner to perform to the dog’s Full Potential.
By providing superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers, YSDI assists the handler to attain their Full Human Potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
In the image above are Sammy( who is autistic) age 12 and his Service Dog,Teen Titan. Sammy is the youngest Graduate of Your Service Dog School. Teen Titan is trained to help Sammy stay calm, find him and lead his mom to him if he runs or hides, and also Teen Titan alerts to Sammy's seizures. According to Sammy's mom Chrystal, Sammy has suffered fewer meltdowns since taking part in our Training Program.
More information about Your Service Dog Inc:
Your Service Dog Inc is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by helping them to train a service dog partner to perform to the dog's full potential in order to provide superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers to help the handler learn to attain their full human potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
Just above is an image of Service Dog Rebel trained by one of the Trainers at Your Service Dog School.
Rebel is a mobility dog and can be seen here handing a package to his disabled Handler.
Here in the image and in the video below is another of Your Service Dog Inc's Awesome Graduates. Full Potential Service Dog Nova completed the Basic Foundation Skills course and is working daily for her Handler doing all kinds of tasks from fetching and carrying items to alerting to her Handler's condition and even gives her Handler Deep Pressure Therapy when needed.
Service Dog Nova continues to learn to learn through the Training Games at Your Service Dog School.
For Many disabled People, Y.S.DI. is their go to family where they find caring and helpful volunteers who are always ready to listen and assist them .
Y.S.D.I. is where many disabled people's dreams really do come true, especially for those in need of a Full Potential Service Dog and also for those needing assistance while striving to reach their Full Human Potential.
Your Service Dog Inc Serving the disabled.
Your Service Dog Inc's Emergency Aid Program has in the past year on occasion paid for necessary prescribed medication that the disabled Person could not afford,
Your Service Dog Inc has also helped contribute towards the cost of items to make disabled Person's homes more user friendly to the disabled Person who could not afford the cost.
Your Service Dog Inc also helped Handlers with Service Dog gear and veterinary bills they could not afford.
Your Service Dog Inc can only help as funds permit so we are totally dependent on your generous donations in order to help the most vulnerable and needy.
Service Dogs are helping their Handlers cope with illness and other physical and mental challenges.
Pax, one of our Service Dogs in Training (seen in the image below), has been trained to bring the phone to his immune compromised Handler should she need it to call for help.
Pax's Handler lives alone so having Pax trained to fetch the phone and bring it to her is vital.
Pax is also working on bringing his Handler a bottle of water and other items she may need that she cannot reach from her wheelchair.
Pax is training to become a Full Potential Service Dog with the assistance of the Trainers at Your Service Dog Inc nonprofit 501c3.
A service Dog is not a pet or a luxury but is classed as essential medical equipment for the disabled person in need of one
A Second Chance
A very high proportion of our Program Dogs come to us from rescues and shelters. Your Service Dog Inc believes in second chances for both the disabled person and the canine partner and we endeavor to assist both to reach their full potential.
Service Dog Pudgy (another one of our Graduates), was once a rescue dog but now he is a fully trained Full Potential Service Dog working to help his Handler throughout the day and night. Pudgy performs many tasks daily for his Handler including reminding her to take her medication.
Everywhere Pudgy's Handler goes Pudgy goes also because Pudgy needs to monitor his Handlers condition at all times.
Pudgy is constantly and devotedly focusing on his Handler.
Together they make an Awesome Team and Pudgy helps his Human Partner along life's journey to reach her Full Potential each and every day.
Bridget who is Pudgy's Handler tells the story here of Pudgy's rescue and the journey that she and Pudgy have taken to date and continue to take in a spirit of gratitude and trust.
This is Bridget's story in her own words,
"To say that having a service dog is life changing is one of the biggest understatements I could make.
Pudgy, who was abandoned at one of our local animal shelters in the summer of 2016, has given me more independence and a sense of security than I ever could have imagined.
I have had chronic illnesses and struggled with my mental health my entire adult life. When my therapist suggested I get a dog to help with my social anxiety I thought I would have a psychiatric service dog to stop panic attacks and calm me in public, but I had no idea… I began my search for a service dog in the spring of 2016 by purchasing and reading Lelah Sullivan’s “Training Your Own Full Potential Service Dog®.”
My plan was to adopt and train a shelter dog, though I knew it could take some time to find the right match. We fostered a retriever mix first, who we fell in love with, but she was very skittish and afraid of everything. She would have made a wonderful pet to join our family, but due to new health issues following my cancer treatment the year prior, I really needed a dog who could be trained to mitigate both my physical and mental illnesses in public and at home.
After finding our first foster dog a home, I saw Pudgy on our local shelter’s webpage. He was just over a year old, and the only information I knew about him was that his previous owners did not want him. I fostered him long-term to get to know him and learn his temperament, and soon found that I had hit the service dog prospect jackpot.
Following cancer treatment in 2015, my physical health has declined considerably. When I started my research, I was surprised at the number of things you could train a service dog to assist with. …and Pudgy loves to train and work! Due to multiple chronic illnesses, we add to Pudgy’s task list as new symptoms arise. Some days he does more psychiatric work like anxiety alert or self-harm interruption. Other times he watches me very closely for medical alerts or response, he retrieves emergency medications, puts pressure on me when my body is in tetany, helps me do laundry and clean the house, runs for help when I’m in crisis, and is an all-around great sidekick. My family and I feel safer now when I’m home alone because he’s here. I can go places myself more because Pudgy helps me know if I’m reaching my limits and need a break or need to get home. It is difficult to describe the helpless feeling that can come with the inability to leave your house or walk into a public place that overwhelms your senses. Knowing that Pudgy is with me now to offer a nudge when my anxiety and physical sensitivities rise puts me in a better place. His persistence when the nudges are ignored, and when he tells me he needs to do some serious work or get me out of a bad situation is incredible. He has learned though his training and from our bond, how to keep me safe. And knowing this gives me the freedom to live my life in a way that I have never known before.
I am beyond grateful for Lelah Sullivan, “Training Your Own Full Potential Service Dog®” and Your Service Dog Inc for giving me a life I never thought possible. My family is grateful. …and I’m sure Pudgy, who has gone from abandoned shelter dog to confident YSDI Service Dog, is grateful too!"
Bridget F
Here are some of the other dogs who are trained in our Program
Meet Holly who is a Fully Trained Service Dog, trained to assist her Handler on a daily basis making life that bit easier for her to navigate. Holly was among our very first graduates
Opening The Fridge
Getting a Drink For The Human Partner
Giving the drink to the disabled Human Partner
Full Potential Service Dog and Graduate of Your Service Dog School nudges the handicapped button for his Handler to open the door and allow her easy access out of the building.
Some more Rescue Dogs in YSDI's SDiT Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program.
Rescue Puppy (seen in the image below), traveling to his new home daydreaming about becoming a future Full Potential Service Dog.
Rescue Dog (seen in the image below) proves at 6 years old its never too late (using Lelah Sullivan's Method of training), for an old Dog to learn new things and he is now training to become a Full Potential Service Dog and showing us daily that he just loves to work. Rico's Handler is a diabetic and Rico the Rescue Dog has turned into Rico the Full Potential Service Dog in Training who is now alerting to his Handlers dangerous low blood sugar level.
In the image below is one of our retired Service Dogs, Helga, the picture was taken while Helga was in training.
Helga was a mobility Service Dog and among many other things she assisted with dressing and undressing her Handler who had problems being able to do this for herself.
Because of Helga and all the various tasks she performed, her Handler was able to independently care for herself.
YSDI Angels on Wheels delivering a rescue Program Puppy to one of YSDI's Evaluators.
Rebecca is one of YSDI's Angels on Wheels who volunteer their time, their vehicle, and also gas for the journey as " Paws Limo" to transport the dogs and puppies from the rescues to their Evaluator. Volunteers like Rebecca and Bob are limited in what they can do for disabled people who come in great numbers to YSDI seeking help and wanting their dream of obtaining a Full Potential Service Dog to come true.
Here is Rebecca's Service Dog, Spike, helping Rebecca to locate her car on one of these road trips. This is one of Spikes tasks. Spike and his Handler were among our first graduates.
Rebecca and her husband Bob and other volunteers have paid the gas money for all of the Angels on Wheels trips to date out of their own pockets (doing journeys of many hours across State lines) to pick up a rescue dog or puppy for YSDI 's program and place the puppy, now a Service Dog in Training Prospect with their Evaluator or Handler where the aspiring Service Dog in Training will complete the Prospect Evaluation Course at Your Service Dog School.
Your Kind Donations will help Rebecca and Bob and other YSDI Volunteers in their work, helping to make even more dreams come true for a greater number of disabled people.
Because of Volunteers like Rebecca and Bob, second chances are offered to rescue Dogs to train to become Full Potential Service Dogs and as Full Potential Service Dogs, they, in turn, assist their disabled Partner to strive to reach their Full Potential also.
One of YSDI's Many Success Stories
This is Rebecca's Story as told in the very first issue of the YSDI Magazine, inside it you will discover the reason Rebecca and Bob choose to volunteer with YSDI and do as much as they can to insure that other disabled people's Dreams also Come True .
“Spike was born on my Medical bed November 9th 2016. He grew into a gift that was to change my life forever, and even save my life more than once.
In frustration, when Spike was just under a year old, I reached out to Lelah Sullivan, and Lelah replied immediately to my cry for help. Lelah helped me see that the Sullivan Method of Training was something that Spike and I could do. She explained to me that I could do this from my Medical bed, and that’s exactly what I did. Spike and I got enrolled in Lelah’s first Classroom, and we completed the Intensive Training Course.
We began our training sessions with me in my medical bed, then as I grew stronger, I continued training Spike using the Sullivan Method from my recliner, and I gradually got to the point where I could train Spike while crawling on the floor. As I learned and relearned to walk again, Spike also learned how to become a Full Potential Service Dog, and together we became an Awesome Team.
By the time we got to the Invisible Box Game I was only very shakily on my feet, but with Lelah’s help we did it. There were times when I got stuck with Spike and didn’t know what to do, but Lelah was there all the way for us, and she helped us complete each training Game, and practice it until Spike was familiar with it, and performed the desired behavior consistently to cue.
Spike, my Service Dog, has saved my life four times in all. He has, on 4 separate occasions, gone from my side to get help for me when I suffered life threatening seizures. The latest of these events was just two weeks ago. I haven’t got the space here in the YSDI Magazine to tell you about all the times Spike has saved my life, but I will tell you the story of the very first time he did it.
I collapsed on the steps to my home just outside my front door. I was in trouble, and suffering a life threatening seizure at the time. Spike, who faithfully and obediently never leaves my side, performed an intelligent disobedience, and left me on the steps to go find my sister in the house next door. My sister wasn’t home so Spike got no reply. Spike then went to my other neighbor’s house, (Angel’s house), who was the second house over from mine, and Angel’s family were outside in their yard when Spike approached them. At this point I did not know Angel and his family, but they had been used to watching Spike and I go for our walks, so when they saw Spike all alone, they decided to follow him and catch him in order to bring him home. However, Spike was on an errand and made sure he couldn’t be caught until he had led Angel’s family to me. Angel’s family saved my life that day but they would not have been able to save my life, if it had not been for Spike, my Service Dog who because of the Sullivan Method of Training had learned to problem solve.
I owe my life to Spike and the Sullivan Method of Training and in particular to Lelah Sullivan my Service Dog Coach.”
Rebecca M.
Your Service Dog Inc's Mission
Our company is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by helping them to train a service dog partner to perform to the dog’s full potential in order to provide superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers to help the handler learn to attain their full human potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
Our Aim is to enable people with disabilities to have the skills and support necessary to train their own Service Dog Partners. We offer an online school, and hands on or online training with a professional trainer. Sliding-scale scholarships are available for the online school to those who are eligible.
Through Facebook groups, we are available for support and questions from those who are working or have worked through our training in any format.
In support of our handler/future handler community who are most vulnerable to PTSD, we offer events, special courses, and activities. We seek to help them to overcome challenges of disabilities they acquired as a result of duties or life traumas. These might include Veterans,First-Responders, and other high-risk groups.
As you might imagine, a PTSD episode is something that is very difficult for the person suffering from PTSD to share publicly, but one of our students at Your Service Dog School is so grateful to us for assisting her to train her own Full Potential Service Dog that she was willing to share this video with us to show you just how much a Service Dog can do for someone suffering from a PTSD episode.
When available, and dependent on a good match, we will place trained Service Dogs with eligible people who have disabilities, and are not capable of training a dog for service work.
Our Home base is on POW Alaska and we currently have made an impact in a number of US States
YOUR SERVICE DOG INC’s PROGRAMS
This chart shows Your Service Dog Inc’s 14 Programs which are all intertwined in a way that offers the best service to all our clients.
Our Programs
The programs interlink with each other in a way that relates to the individual needs of the disabled person who comes to us seeking our help and whether they need a Service Dog or Emotional Support Dog, or indeed they may need both, we can cater for their particular needs in a caring and understanding way that tailors the Service Dog’s tasks to the individual needs of the client
Your Service Dog Inc's Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program
This is our primary program and it selects suitable candidate puppies (or sometimes mature dogs) from shelters, rescues, or donated canines from all over the US.
During the dog’s evaluation period, he or she lives with, and is cared for by, a YSDI Evaluator, as we assess the dog's suitability while s/he is taught the Basic Foundation Skills course at Your Service Dog School.
The selected puppies and Dogs who make it through the Evaluation period of our intensive training Program and are deemed suitable candidates to be placed as Service Dog In Training Prospects are then placed with a carefully selected compatible Human Partner at a cost of $0.00 to the person with a disability who is receiving the dog.
The puppies or dogs who don't make the grade in our Program are placed as Emotional Support Animals or Companion Dogs.
Our program seeks to help disabled people everywhere strive to reach their Full Human Potential by utilizing Canine assistance to mitigate their disabilities. As part of this endeavor, we assist them in every way we can to train their own Full Potential Service Dog.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Fully Trained Service Dog Program
This Program places Fully Trained Service Dogs with disabled clients who for various reasons are not able to train their own Service Dog.
We have placed Three Fully Trained Service Dogs to date. All of our Trainers work on a voluntary basis. If we had the funds to train staff and pay for extra Trainers we could train many more Fully Trained Full Potential Service Dogs for those on our waiting list who are unable to train their own Service Dog. The cost of the course per dog before Trainers salary is just over $6,000 and could cost up to a further $3,000 per dog if the dog needs to be specifically trained to the individuals needs. Trainers Salary and expenses would have to be factored in also as the trainer may have to travel several times to the client or the client may have to travel to the trainer (and may need his or her costs covered) in order to complete the training.
Your Service Dog School 4
Your Service Dog School program is an online Training School which provides courses with access to the enrolled student, offering the services of a personal Trainer fully qualified in the Sullivan Method of Training as depicted in Lelah Sullivan’s books for the duration of the course.
Your Service Dog School takes the information in Lelah Sullivan’s books to a whole new level and opens doors of opportunity to the enrolled Student who wishes to avail of the services on offer.
The Trainers at Your Service Dog School will mentor you and instruct you as you make your way through your chosen course and help you make your training sessions fun for both you and your Dog.
Our Trainers are always ready to help students with any problems they may encounter or questions they may have regarding the course.
A sliding scale scholarship (based on the federal poverty level chart) is in place to insure that the course is available to all at an affordable cost.
Your Service Dog School is in existence for over a year now and has 5 Graduates recently graduated with other graduations to follow.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Breeding Program
Our Breeding Program endeavors to produce a superior Service Dog Prospect Puppy with particular traits that will grow into a Full Potential Service Dog with an aptitude to answer the needs of the disabled Handler particularly those suffering with PTSD as well as meeting the needs of other disabled clients.
This program hopes to purchase further dogs in 2020 to continue to build upon our breeding stock in order to continue to meet the needs of our clients into the future Projected Cost of the Breeding Program in 2020 is estimated at $15,000
Your Service Dog Inc's V.E.T.S. Battle Buddies.
This is a Program for Military Veterans
Your Service Dog Inc’s V.E.T.S. Battle Buddies Program is designed to focus on needs that are specific to disabled Military Veterans.
Our vision is to increase the quality of life through personal and community encounters, and assist the Veterans to train their own Full Potential Service Dog to help mitigate their disabilities.
Although the Program is based in Alaska Your Service Dog Inc invites Veterans from all over the US to avail of the services on offer.
Our Military Veterans also benefit from our Prospect Evaluation and Placement program. We assist Veterans with Service Dog gear when funds permit and the placement of fully trained Service Dogs when available (for those who for various reasons are not able to train their own dog).
We also organize events when funds permit
We also run a Special Program for First Responders called Your Service Dog Inc's H.E.R.O.E.S. First Responder
This program is dedicated to helping the people who are our First Responders.
In addition to other services such as helping our First Responders achieve their Full Potential through events, special courses, and activities for First Responders and their Service Dogs, First Responders may also apply to receive benefits from Your Service Dog Inc's Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program (when assessed SDiTs are available) and we also help First Responders with Service Dog gear when funds permit and the placement of fully trained Service Dogs when available.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Survivors Program
This program is for those people from all walks of life who may be suffering from PTSD as well as for Veterans and First Responders suffering from PTSD, should they prefer to avail of this Program.
Your Service Dog Inc's Survivor's Program provides special courses and activities for those who choose to avail of them.
We also provide support and assistance through our Facebook Group
Your Service Dog Inc's Survivor's Program also provides Service Dog Gear and Fully Trained Service Dogs when funds permit to Survivors who cannot for one reason or another train their own Full Potential Service Dog.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Emotional Support Dog Program
This program strives to place a superior full potential Emotional Support Dog with those who require this service and we assist them through special courses to train their Emotional Support Dog to his or her Full Potential.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Angels on Wheels Program
Your Service Dog Inc's Angel;s on Wheels Program transports the dogs and puppies from their Donor to the Evaluator, and from the Evaluator to the Handler, when and where possible. This program makes it possible for us to match the Service Dog to the individual rather than the person in need of a Service Dog having to rely on the first available Service Dog in Training Prospect Dog or pup that becomes available in their locality or in their immediate surrounding area.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Canine Quarantine and Holding Facility Program
Though this program is not yet a reality on the ground, it is a program we envisage will greatly aid our ability to provide a superior Service Dog.
A holding facility will offer us a greater chance to assess the pups and dogs in a centralized setting before they enter our program and will result in more puppies and dogs who are suited to Service Dog Work becoming part of our Program. The facility would also cut back on the expense of an Evaluator travelling to assess the various dogs entering our program. We currently do not have a location and rely on inviting volunteers to be puppy carers for us as we give the initial assessment to the puppies or dogs being offered to us.
The BookGift Program
We provide (to people who inform us that they cannot afford the cost of a Training Book), Gifted e-books through our BookGift Program, which provide instructions and a step-by-step training sequence to follow, to teach people how to train their Service Dog using the Sullivan Method of Training.
Your Service Dog Inc’s
Oasis of Peace Retreat Program
We are working towards providing a facility where our disabled clients can come with their Service Dogs to relax and enjoy a little time away from the hustle and bustle of life with its many problems. As well as providing hands on training sessions, this facility will also be a place where some of our clients will meet their Service Dog or Service Dog Prospect for the first time. It will be a safe place where our clients can learn to work with and build a bond and develop a working partnership with their new Service Dog or Service Dog in Training.
Through our Support Groups Program we foster a supportive, warm, friendly, and loving family spirit, and provide a safe place where our online community can come to receive guidance and coaching about their day to day experiences of training, living and working with their Service Dogs. The Support Groups are also a great place to get the latest news about our programs.
We also have a Website, an Instagram account, and Twitter for those who like to tweet.
Please Help us
Please Donate to Your Service Dog Inc serving a very vulnerable and often forgotten sector of society.
Particularly now (due to COVID 19 ) our disabled are more vulnerable than ever before. They are considered a High Risk group because of their often low and compromised immune system. They are scared, unsure of what the immediate future holds for them and they are struggling to stay safe and well.
Please click on the DONATE BUTTON NOW and give generously to the disabled people Your Service Dog Inc serves.
If you would like to donate some of your time, please consider joining us as a Volunteer with Your Service Dog Inc
COVID -19 is taking its toll at this time, on the people we serve and on their families. Your Service Dog Inc does not just train full Potential Service Dogs but also seeks to help each and every disabled Service Dog Handler reach his or her own Full Human Potential.
YSDI is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities.
We need funds to help us sustain our Services at this time and we especially need funds for our Emergency Aid Program which helps those of our disabled Handlers who are in dire need.
Your Service Dog Inc serves a sector of the community.
who are most vulnerable to COVID-19. Please help in any way you can
YSDI helps disabled persons to obtain and train a Service Dog Partner to perform to the dog’s Full Potential.
By providing superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers, YSDI assists the handler to attain their Full Human Potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
In the image above are Sammy( who is autistic) age 12 and his Service Dog,Teen Titan. Sammy is the youngest Graduate of Your Service Dog School. Teen Titan is trained to help Sammy stay calm, find him and lead his mom to him if he runs or hides, and also Teen Titan alerts to Sammy's seizures. According to Sammy's mom Chrystal, Sammy has suffered fewer meltdowns since taking part in our Training Program. More information about Your Service Dog Inc:
Your Service Dog Inc is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by helping them to train a service dog partner to perform to the dog's full potential in order to provide superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers to help the handler learn to attain their full human potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
Just above is an image of Service Dog Rebel trained by one of the Trainers at Your Service Dog School.
Rebel is a mobility dog and can be seen here handing a package to his disabled Handler.
Here in the image and in the video below is another of Your Service Dog Inc's Awesome Graduates. Full Potential Service Dog Nova completed the Basic Foundation Skills course and is working daily for her Handler doing all kinds of tasks from fetching and carrying items to alerting to her Handler's condition and even gives her Handler Deep Pressure Therapy when needed.
Service Dog Nova continues to learn to learn through the Training Games at Your Service Dog School.
For Many disabled People, Y.S.DI. is their go to family where they find caring and helpful volunteers who are always ready to listen and assist them .
Y.S.D.I. is where many disabled people's dreams really do come true, especially for those in need of a Full Potential Service Dog and also for those needing assistance while striving to reach their Full Human Potential.
Your Service Dog Inc Serving the disabled.
Your Service Dog Inc's Emergency Aid Program has in the past year on occasion paid for necessary prescribed medication that the disabled Person could not afford,
Your Service Dog Inc has also helped contribute towards the cost of items to make disabled Person's homes more user friendly to the disabled Person who could not afford the cost.
Your Service Dog Inc also helped Handlers with Service Dog gear and veterinary bills they could not afford.
Your Service Dog Inc can only help as funds permit so we are totally dependent on your generous donations in order to help the most vulnerable and needy.
Service Dogs are helping their Handlers cope with illness and other physical and mental challenges.
Pax, one of our Service Dogs in Training (seen in the image below), has been trained to bring the phone to his immune compromised Handler should she need it to call for help.
Pax's Handler lives alone so having Pax trained to fetch the phone and bring it to her is vital.
Pax is also working on bringing his Handler a bottle of water and other items she may need that she cannot reach from her wheelchair.
Pax is training to become a Full Potential Service Dog with the assistance of the Trainers at Your Service Dog Inc nonprofit 501c3.
A service Dog is not a pet or a luxury but is classed as essential medical equipment for the disabled person in need of one
A Second Chance
A very high proportion of our Program Dogs come to us from rescues and shelters. Your Service Dog Inc believes in second chances for both the disabled person and the canine partner and we endeavor to assist both to reach their full potential.
Service Dog Pudgy (another one of our Graduates), was once a rescue dog but now he is a fully trained Full Potential Service Dog working to help his Handler throughout the day and night. Pudgy performs many tasks daily for his Handler including reminding her to take her medication.
Everywhere Pudgy's Handler goes Pudgy goes also because Pudgy needs to monitor his Handlers condition at all times.
Pudgy is constantly and devotedly focusing on his Handler.
Together they make an Awesome Team and Pudgy helps his Human Partner along life's journey to reach her Full Potential each and every day.
Bridget who is Pudgy's Handler tells the story here of Pudgy's rescue and the journey that she and Pudgy have taken to date and continue to take in a spirit of gratitude and trust.
This is Bridget's story in her own words,
"To say that having a service dog is life changing is one of the biggest understatements I could make.
Pudgy, who was abandoned at one of our local animal shelters in the summer of 2016, has given me more independence and a sense of security than I ever could have imagined.
I have had chronic illnesses and struggled with my mental health my entire adult life. When my therapist suggested I get a dog to help with my social anxiety I thought I would have a psychiatric service dog to stop panic attacks and calm me in public, but I had no idea… I began my search for a service dog in the spring of 2016 by purchasing and reading Lelah Sullivan’s “Training Your Own Full Potential Service Dog®.”
My plan was to adopt and train a shelter dog, though I knew it could take some time to find the right match. We fostered a retriever mix first, who we fell in love with, but she was very skittish and afraid of everything. She would have made a wonderful pet to join our family, but due to new health issues following my cancer treatment the year prior, I really needed a dog who could be trained to mitigate both my physical and mental illnesses in public and at home.
After finding our first foster dog a home, I saw Pudgy on our local shelter’s webpage. He was just over a year old, and the only information I knew about him was that his previous owners did not want him. I fostered him long-term to get to know him and learn his temperament, and soon found that I had hit the service dog prospect jackpot.
Following cancer treatment in 2015, my physical health has declined considerably. When I started my research, I was surprised at the number of things you could train a service dog to assist with. …and Pudgy loves to train and work! Due to multiple chronic illnesses, we add to Pudgy’s task list as new symptoms arise. Some days he does more psychiatric work like anxiety alert or self-harm interruption. Other times he watches me very closely for medical alerts or response, he retrieves emergency medications, puts pressure on me when my body is in tetany, helps me do laundry and clean the house, runs for help when I’m in crisis, and is an all-around great sidekick. My family and I feel safer now when I’m home alone because he’s here. I can go places myself more because Pudgy helps me know if I’m reaching my limits and need a break or need to get home. It is difficult to describe the helpless feeling that can come with the inability to leave your house or walk into a public place that overwhelms your senses. Knowing that Pudgy is with me now to offer a nudge when my anxiety and physical sensitivities rise puts me in a better place. His persistence when the nudges are ignored, and when he tells me he needs to do some serious work or get me out of a bad situation is incredible. He has learned though his training and from our bond, how to keep me safe. And knowing this gives me the freedom to live my life in a way that I have never known before.
I am beyond grateful for Lelah Sullivan, “Training Your Own Full Potential Service Dog®” and Your Service Dog Inc for giving me a life I never thought possible. My family is grateful. …and I’m sure Pudgy, who has gone from abandoned shelter dog to confident YSDI Service Dog, is grateful too!"
Bridget F
Here are some of the other dogs who are trained in our Program
Meet Holly who is a Fully Trained Service Dog, trained to assist her Handler on a daily basis making life that bit easier for her to navigate. Holly was among our very first graduates
Opening The Fridge
Getting a Drink For The Human Partner
Giving the drink to the disabled Human Partner
Full Potential Service Dog and Graduate of Your Service Dog School nudges the handicapped button for his Handler to open the door and allow her easy access out of the building.
Some more Rescue Dogs in YSDI's SDiT Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program.
Rescue Puppy (seen in the image below), traveling to his new home daydreaming about becoming a future Full Potential Service Dog.
Rescue Dog (seen in the image below) proves at 6 years old its never too late (using Lelah Sullivan's Method of training), for an old Dog to learn new things and he is now training to become a Full Potential Service Dog and showing us daily that he just loves to work. Rico's Handler is a diabetic and Rico the Rescue Dog has turned into Rico the Full Potential Service Dog in Training who is now alerting to his Handlers dangerous low blood sugar level.
In the image below is one of our retired Service Dogs, Helga, the picture was taken while Helga was in training.
Helga was a mobility Service Dog and among many other things she assisted with dressing and undressing her Handler who had problems being able to do this for herself.
Because of Helga and all the various tasks she performed, her Handler was able to independently care for herself.
YSDI Angels on Wheels delivering a rescue Program Puppy to one of YSDI's Evaluators.
Rebecca is one of YSDI's Angels on Wheels who volunteer their time, their vehicle, and also gas for the journey as " Paws Limo" to transport the dogs and puppies from the rescues to their Evaluator. Volunteers like Rebecca and Bob are limited in what they can do for disabled people who come in great numbers to YSDI seeking help and wanting their dream of obtaining a Full Potential Service Dog to come true.
Here is Rebecca's Service Dog, Spike, helping Rebecca to locate her car on one of these road trips. This is one of Spikes tasks. Spike and his Handler were among our first graduates.
Rebecca and her husband Bob and other volunteers have paid the gas money for all of the Angels on Wheels trips to date out of their own pockets (doing journeys of many hours across State lines) to pick up a rescue dog or puppy for YSDI 's program and place the puppy, now a Service Dog in Training Prospect with their Evaluator or Handler where the aspiring Service Dog in Training will complete the Prospect Evaluation Course at Your Service Dog School.
Your Kind Donations will help Rebecca and Bob and other YSDI Volunteers in their work, helping to make even more dreams come true for a greater number of disabled people.
Because of Volunteers like Rebecca and Bob, second chances are offered to rescue Dogs to train to become Full Potential Service Dogs and as Full Potential Service Dogs, they, in turn, assist their disabled Partner to strive to reach their Full Potential also.
One of YSDI's Many Success Stories
This is Rebecca's Story as told in the very first issue of the YSDI Magazine, inside it you will discover the reason Rebecca and Bob choose to volunteer with YSDI and do as much as they can to insure that other disabled people's Dreams also Come True .
“Spike was born on my Medical bed November 9th 2016. He grew into a gift that was to change my life forever, and even save my life more than once.
In frustration, when Spike was just under a year old, I reached out to Lelah Sullivan, and Lelah replied immediately to my cry for help. Lelah helped me see that the Sullivan Method of Training was something that Spike and I could do. She explained to me that I could do this from my Medical bed, and that’s exactly what I did. Spike and I got enrolled in Lelah’s first Classroom, and we completed the Intensive Training Course.
We began our training sessions with me in my medical bed, then as I grew stronger, I continued training Spike using the Sullivan Method from my recliner, and I gradually got to the point where I could train Spike while crawling on the floor. As I learned and relearned to walk again, Spike also learned how to become a Full Potential Service Dog, and together we became an Awesome Team.
By the time we got to the Invisible Box Game I was only very shakily on my feet, but with Lelah’s help we did it. There were times when I got stuck with Spike and didn’t know what to do, but Lelah was there all the way for us, and she helped us complete each training Game, and practice it until Spike was familiar with it, and performed the desired behavior consistently to cue.
Spike, my Service Dog, has saved my life four times in all. He has, on 4 separate occasions, gone from my side to get help for me when I suffered life threatening seizures. The latest of these events was just two weeks ago. I haven’t got the space here in the YSDI Magazine to tell you about all the times Spike has saved my life, but I will tell you the story of the very first time he did it.
I collapsed on the steps to my home just outside my front door. I was in trouble, and suffering a life threatening seizure at the time. Spike, who faithfully and obediently never leaves my side, performed an intelligent disobedience, and left me on the steps to go find my sister in the house next door. My sister wasn’t home so Spike got no reply. Spike then went to my other neighbor’s house, (Angel’s house), who was the second house over from mine, and Angel’s family were outside in their yard when Spike approached them. At this point I did not know Angel and his family, but they had been used to watching Spike and I go for our walks, so when they saw Spike all alone, they decided to follow him and catch him in order to bring him home. However, Spike was on an errand and made sure he couldn’t be caught until he had led Angel’s family to me. Angel’s family saved my life that day but they would not have been able to save my life, if it had not been for Spike, my Service Dog who because of the Sullivan Method of Training had learned to problem solve.
I owe my life to Spike and the Sullivan Method of Training and in particular to Lelah Sullivan my Service Dog Coach.”
Rebecca M.
Your Service Dog Inc's Mission
Our company is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by helping them to train a service dog partner to perform to the dog’s full potential in order to provide superior Canine Assistance as well as providing services to Service Dog handlers to help the handler learn to attain their full human potential by utilizing Canine Assistance.
Our Aim is to enable people with disabilities to have the skills and support necessary to train their own Service Dog Partners. We offer an online school, and hands on or online training with a professional trainer. Sliding-scale scholarships are available for the online school to those who are eligible.
Through Facebook groups, we are available for support and questions from those who are working or have worked through our training in any format.
In support of our handler/future handler community who are most vulnerable to PTSD, we offer events, special courses, and activities. We seek to help them to overcome challenges of disabilities they acquired as a result of duties or life traumas. These might include Veterans,First-Responders, and other high-risk groups.
As you might imagine, a PTSD episode is something that is very difficult for the person suffering from PTSD to share publicly, but one of our students at Your Service Dog School is so grateful to us for assisting her to train her own Full Potential Service Dog that she was willing to share this video with us to show you just how much a Service Dog can do for someone suffering from a PTSD episode.
When available, and dependent on a good match, we will place trained Service Dogs with eligible people who have disabilities, and are not capable of training a dog for service work.
Our Home base is on POW Alaska and we currently have made an impact in a number of US States
YOUR SERVICE DOG INC’s PROGRAMS
This chart shows Your Service Dog Inc’s 14 Programs which are all intertwined in a way that offers the best service to all our clients.
Our Programs
The programs interlink with each other in a way that relates to the individual needs of the disabled person who comes to us seeking our help and whether they need a Service Dog or Emotional Support Dog, or indeed they may need both, we can cater for their particular needs in a caring and understanding way that tailors the Service Dog’s tasks to the individual needs of the client
Your Service Dog Inc's Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program
This is our primary program and it selects suitable candidate puppies (or sometimes mature dogs) from shelters, rescues, or donated canines from all over the US.
During the dog’s evaluation period, he or she lives with, and is cared for by, a YSDI Evaluator, as we assess the dog's suitability while s/he is taught the Basic Foundation Skills course at Your Service Dog School.
The selected puppies and Dogs who make it through the Evaluation period of our intensive training Program and are deemed suitable candidates to be placed as Service Dog In Training Prospects are then placed with a carefully selected compatible Human Partner at a cost of $0.00 to the person with a disability who is receiving the dog.
The puppies or dogs who don't make the grade in our Program are placed as Emotional Support Animals or Companion Dogs.
Our program seeks to help disabled people everywhere strive to reach their Full Human Potential by utilizing Canine assistance to mitigate their disabilities. As part of this endeavor, we assist them in every way we can to train their own Full Potential Service Dog.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Fully Trained Service Dog Program
This Program places Fully Trained Service Dogs with disabled clients who for various reasons are not able to train their own Service Dog.
We have placed Three Fully Trained Service Dogs to date. All of our Trainers work on a voluntary basis. If we had the funds to train staff and pay for extra Trainers we could train many more Fully Trained Full Potential Service Dogs for those on our waiting list who are unable to train their own Service Dog. The cost of the course per dog before Trainers salary is just over $6,000 and could cost up to a further $3,000 per dog if the dog needs to be specifically trained to the individuals needs. Trainers Salary and expenses would have to be factored in also as the trainer may have to travel several times to the client or the client may have to travel to the trainer (and may need his or her costs covered) in order to complete the training.
Your Service Dog School 4
Your Service Dog School program is an online Training School which provides courses with access to the enrolled student, offering the services of a personal Trainer fully qualified in the Sullivan Method of Training as depicted in Lelah Sullivan’s books for the duration of the course.
Your Service Dog School takes the information in Lelah Sullivan’s books to a whole new level and opens doors of opportunity to the enrolled Student who wishes to avail of the services on offer.
The Trainers at Your Service Dog School will mentor you and instruct you as you make your way through your chosen course and help you make your training sessions fun for both you and your Dog.
Our Trainers are always ready to help students with any problems they may encounter or questions they may have regarding the course.
A sliding scale scholarship (based on the federal poverty level chart) is in place to insure that the course is available to all at an affordable cost.
Your Service Dog School is in existence for over a year now and has 5 Graduates recently graduated with other graduations to follow.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Breeding Program
Our Breeding Program endeavors to produce a superior Service Dog Prospect Puppy with particular traits that will grow into a Full Potential Service Dog with an aptitude to answer the needs of the disabled Handler particularly those suffering with PTSD as well as meeting the needs of other disabled clients.
This program hopes to purchase further dogs in 2020 to continue to build upon our breeding stock in order to continue to meet the needs of our clients into the future Projected Cost of the Breeding Program in 2020 is estimated at $15,000
Your Service Dog Inc's V.E.T.S. Battle Buddies.
This is a Program for Military Veterans
Your Service Dog Inc’s V.E.T.S. Battle Buddies Program is designed to focus on needs that are specific to disabled Military Veterans.
Our vision is to increase the quality of life through personal and community encounters, and assist the Veterans to train their own Full Potential Service Dog to help mitigate their disabilities.
Although the Program is based in Alaska Your Service Dog Inc invites Veterans from all over the US to avail of the services on offer.
Our Military Veterans also benefit from our Prospect Evaluation and Placement program. We assist Veterans with Service Dog gear when funds permit and the placement of fully trained Service Dogs when available (for those who for various reasons are not able to train their own dog).
We also organize events when funds permit
We also run a Special Program for First Responders called Your Service Dog Inc's H.E.R.O.E.S. First Responder
This program is dedicated to helping the people who are our First Responders.
In addition to other services such as helping our First Responders achieve their Full Potential through events, special courses, and activities for First Responders and their Service Dogs, First Responders may also apply to receive benefits from Your Service Dog Inc's Prospect Evaluation and Placement Program (when assessed SDiTs are available) and we also help First Responders with Service Dog gear when funds permit and the placement of fully trained Service Dogs when available.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Survivors Program
This program is for those people from all walks of life who may be suffering from PTSD as well as for Veterans and First Responders suffering from PTSD, should they prefer to avail of this Program.
Your Service Dog Inc's Survivor's Program provides special courses and activities for those who choose to avail of them.
We also provide support and assistance through our Facebook Group
Your Service Dog Inc's Survivor's Program also provides Service Dog Gear and Fully Trained Service Dogs when funds permit to Survivors who cannot for one reason or another train their own Full Potential Service Dog.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Emotional Support Dog Program
This program strives to place a superior full potential Emotional Support Dog with those who require this service and we assist them through special courses to train their Emotional Support Dog to his or her Full Potential.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Angels on Wheels Program
Your Service Dog Inc's Angel;s on Wheels Program transports the dogs and puppies from their Donor to the Evaluator, and from the Evaluator to the Handler, when and where possible. This program makes it possible for us to match the Service Dog to the individual rather than the person in need of a Service Dog having to rely on the first available Service Dog in Training Prospect Dog or pup that becomes available in their locality or in their immediate surrounding area.
Your Service Dog Inc’s Canine Quarantine and Holding Facility Program
Though this program is not yet a reality on the ground, it is a program we envisage will greatly aid our ability to provide a superior Service Dog.
A holding facility will offer us a greater chance to assess the pups and dogs in a centralized setting before they enter our program and will result in more puppies and dogs who are suited to Service Dog Work becoming part of our Program. The facility would also cut back on the expense of an Evaluator travelling to assess the various dogs entering our program. We currently do not have a location and rely on inviting volunteers to be puppy carers for us as we give the initial assessment to the puppies or dogs being offered to us.
The BookGift Program
We provide (to people who inform us that they cannot afford the cost of a Training Book), Gifted e-books through our BookGift Program, which provide instructions and a step-by-step training sequence to follow, to teach people how to train their Service Dog using the Sullivan Method of Training.
Your Service Dog Inc’s
Oasis of Peace Retreat Program
We are working towards providing a facility where our disabled clients can come with their Service Dogs to relax and enjoy a little time away from the hustle and bustle of life with its many problems. As well as providing hands on training sessions, this facility will also be a place where some of our clients will meet their Service Dog or Service Dog Prospect for the first time. It will be a safe place where our clients can learn to work with and build a bond and develop a working partnership with their new Service Dog or Service Dog in Training.
Through our Support Groups Program we foster a supportive, warm, friendly, and loving family spirit, and provide a safe place where our online community can come to receive guidance and coaching about their day to day experiences of training, living and working with their Service Dogs. The Support Groups are also a great place to get the latest news about our programs.
We also have a Website, an Instagram account, and Twitter for those who like to tweet.
Please Help us
Please Donate to Your Service Dog Inc serving a very vulnerable and often forgotten sector of society.
Particularly now (due to COVID 19 ) our disabled are more vulnerable than ever before. They are considered a High Risk group because of their often low and compromised immune system. They are scared, unsure of what the immediate future holds for them and they are struggling to stay safe and well.
Please click on the DONATE BUTTON NOW and give generously to the disabled people Your Service Dog Inc serves.
If you would like to donate some of your time, please consider joining us as a Volunteer with Your Service Dog Inc
Co-organizers (2)
Your Service Dog Inc
Organizer
Ketchikan, AK
Your Service Dog Inc
Beneficiary
Chrystal Coffey
Co-organizer