Service Dog Organization Looking For Volunteers In MA, RI, NH

A New England-based organization is recruiting volunteers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to raise and train service dogs.

NEADS World Class Service Dogs, based in Princeton, Massachusetts, trains puppies to become service dogs. Volunteers will be asked to take the puppy into their home and care for it for about a year.

"The added stressors and isolation created by the COVID-19 pandemic has made the need for our highly-trained Service Dogs more critical than ever before.," organization CEO Gerry DeRoche said.

Puppy raisers can be young families, couples, individuals, retirees and more. The most important thing is that candidates are willing to "devote time, energy and love to successfully socialize and train a NEADS Service Dog in Training," the organization said. To properly socialize the animal, volunteers will need to bring it out in public to experience public settings such as malls, restaurants or grocery stores. It's okay to have another pet in the house with the dog, as long as they are comfortable around other animals and people.

"While we realize the commitment that we ask our Full-Time Puppy Raisers to make is a major one, we also cannot reinforce enough how meaningful this process is for the Raisers," DeRoche said. "Our volunteers have the once-in-a-lifetime experience (or hopefully more!) of preparing these amazing dogs for a career of helping others with disabilities, including those who are deaf or physically disabled, children who have autism, or veterans who have PTSD; or providing therapeutic assistance in a variety of professional settings."

Candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Take Service Dogs in Training into their homes and look after them for 12 to 16 months, working on critical socialization and basic obedience
• Physically manage a young and energetic dog
• Attend one weekly training session with a NEADS trainer. Classes are held virtually, at the NEADS campus and at locations mutually convenient to the Raisers and Trainers
• Care for the NEADS dog 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing a safe, healthy and loving environment (NEADS dogs can only be left alone for a maximum of two hours at a time as puppies and no longer than three to four hours as they get older)
• Provide daily training, socialization and physical exercising
• Handle the puppy and teach them crate training, house training and other appropriate behaviors in the home
• Be financially responsible for certain supplies, namely a crate, chew toys, dog bowls, appropriate training toys and a long leash line. Food and medical care will be provided

Interested candidates are asked to complete an application. Once submitted, a NEADS volunteer will reach out to set up a virtual orientation, followed by a home visit before the dog is assigned to the candidate.

Amanda, a full-time student and puppy raiser, was forced to send her dog, Vegas, back early when Harvard University closed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I am so incredibly sad that our time together ended so shortly," she wrote in a letter to the dog. "In just two months, you have taught me so much about what it means to serve others so wholeheartedly and take all of life’s learning opportunities by the paws ... I will never forget you, and I hope that you will always carry the memories we shared."