The Different Ways we Acquire Dogs for our Program:

Owner Surrenders

Shelters & Rescues

Many people get pets with the best of intentions, but then life circumstances make them unable to keep their dog. Rather than that dog being taken to a shelter, owners can surrender their dog to The Service Dog Connection, where the dog will receive lots of love, attention, exercise and training.

Shelters & Rescues

We have partnered with several shelters and rescues all over California that evaluate rescued dogs and contact us when they have a potential service dog candidate. If you are a shelter or rescue that has a potential service dog candidate that could be a good match for our program, let us know!

Breeders

Shelters & Rescues

Breeders

The Service Dog Connection works with breeders all over the country who breed quality health and temperament tested dogs and are willing to give us donated or discounted puppies and young dogs! We are looking for breeders of Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Poodles, Newfoundlands, Collies, and other working breeds!

What We Look for In a dog

Health

When looking for a service dog candidate, finding healthy dogs that can handle the stress of a job is critical!

Dogs must be between the ages of 2months old and 3yrs old when entering our training program.
Dogs must be free of illness

Please include all vaccination and veterinary care records that you have, and notify us of any previous conditions that the dog has been treated for to the best of your knowledge.

If you are a breeder or your dog was from a breeder that did health testing, please provide the health testing of the dam and sire if possible.

Temperament

The temperament of a dog is their personality. It is fairly unchangeable, so we are really looking to find dogs with temperaments that are friendly, social with people and other dogs, confident out in public, and dogs that are motivated to learn and please.

Our trainers will temperament test every dog that we are considering adding to our program. We will not accept any dogs that have a history of aggression, are fearful, or do not have an interest in learning and having a job.

Size & Breed

We have a minimum size requirement of 30lbs, and a maximum size of 140lbs when the dog is fully grown for our service dogs in training. While any breed can legally be a service dog, we find that Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Poodles, Newfoundlands, Collies, and mixes of those generally make the most successful service dogs for our program.

We do not use full German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Pitbulls or other bully breeds due to temperament and public access issues for applicants, but will consider mixes of these breeds as long as the dog does not show guarding tendencies.

Have a dog that you think would be Great For Our Program?

All of the dogs that we accept into our training program live in puppy raiser homes, get lots of training, exercise and play time, and get to go everywhere with their puppy raisers and eventually the disabled individual that they are placed with! It is an amazing way for these wonderful dogs to help someone in need, and for owners and rescues to know that the dogs are in good hands for the rest of their lives. WE DO NOT TAKE IN DOGS FROM OWNERS TO BE TRAINED AS THEIR SERVICE DOGS!

The dogs in our program that do not make the cut for service dog training will be fostered with our staff until they find their loving forever homes. Our dogs will never end up back in the shelter system. We have lots of applicants that want the service dog drop outs, so dogs generally find their forever homes fairly quickly.

If you believe you have a dog that would be a great addition to our pack of service dogs in training, please fill out the Service Dog Candidate Enrollment Form below and email it to theservicedogconnectionprogram@gmail.com where one of our trainers will then reach out to you. We travel all over the state of California for the right dogs, and even consider working with breeders all over the country to get dogs.

The Different Ways we Acquire Dogs for our Program:

Owner Surrenders

Shelters & Rescues

Shelters & Rescues

Shelters & Rescues

Shelters & Rescues

Shelters & Rescues

Breeders

Shelters & Rescues

Breeders

What We Look for In a dog

Health

Temperament

Size & Breed

Have a dog that you think would be Great For Our Program?

Our Service Dog Candidate Enrollment Form: