Support Jessi's Journey to Train a Service Dog

Hello, I am Jessi and I have been in the service dog world for almost 10 years. I started training service dogs in college and loved being an advocate for them and service dog law, watching them grow, and helping them become the best dogs they can. Unfortunately, what I did not expect was that in the last few years, my health would decline.

While out with some friends, my closest friend (who has chronic illnesses herself and a service dog of her own) noted how bad my health seemed to be and how it was not, in fact, normal to be that close to passing out and having a heart rate of 140 plus for just standing. After multiple instances of this, along with a few instances of her service dog actually pushing to be with me and alerting to me, I went to see a new doctor. Within the last year of seeing this doctor, I have seen multiple specialists, been put on multiple medications, and still have more to come.

After thinking it over, talking with many disabled friends and associates (who often discourage service dogs for people who don’t know the full extent of them), and a solid understanding of training, raising, and caring for a service dog, I have decided that the next dog I receive, I will be training for service work.

I have been currently working with my pet dog for 3.5 years now and have an amazing support system of other friends who are active in the dog training world and active in disability advocacy. I have an amazing breeder lined up who has confirmed puppies who should be born in early June. The breeder checks all my boxes for what I want from a Golden Retriever, and both the bitch and sire have produced service dogs before. While focusing on solid socialization and basic training for the first year will be my priority, I will eventually be training medical alert, migraine alert, medication reminder, some basic mobility work like retrievals, behavior disruption, deep pressure therapy, along with other tasks as needed.

While I have been saving money, raising a puppy, particularly for service work, is a very costly adventure. Especially for the first year as you are doing extensive training, frequent vet visits, and regular socialization. I am looking to use this money to help with vet and training costs in particular.

Any amount helps and I am happy to answer questions directly if you are curious about how the money will be spent.