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2006 Fall Cycle
2008 Summer Cycle Assistance Dog Institute, Paws for Purple Hearts Program, Santa Rosa, CA $10,000 matched by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life Program
2008 Spring Cycle Children’s Hospital Boston, Pawprints Visitation Program, Boston, MA $10,000 Pawprints is Children’s Hospital Boston’s therapy dog visitation program, which provides hospitalized children and their families a healthy diversion from the usual hospital routine. Eligible patients and their families may request a visit from one of the hospital’s certified and specially trained therapy dogs. In addition to their successful children’s pet therapy program, Pawprints is preparing a research study which aims to describe dog visitation in acute care pediatric hospital settings from parent and child perspectives.
Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota, Autism Assist Dog Program, Minneapolis, MN, $10,000
Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation, Dog Life Program, Three Forks, MT, $10,000
2007 Fall Cycle Assistance Dogs of the West, Santa Fe, NM $10,000 http://www.assistancedogsofthewest.org
Freedom Service Dogs, Lakewood, CO $10,000 http://freedomservicedogs.org/
Soul Friends, Yalesville, CT $5,000
Teacher’s Pet, Rochester Hills, MI $5,000 http://www.teacherspetmichigan.org/
NEADS – Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans, West Boylston, MA $10,000 A grantee since the Spring of 2006, NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans helps children and adults who are deaf or physically disabled live more mobile, social and independent lives through partnership with a dog individually trained for their lifestyle and assistive needs. The current grant will support the Canines for Combat Veterans program, which aims to restore the independence of disabled veterans, particularly those who have sustained injuries during service that impair their mobility. These veterans have unique needs, and NEADS is working to customize their training and equipment to best address the complex needs of those who have served. The Chenny Troupe, Chicago, IL $10,000 PDF is extending its support of the Chenny Troupe, a Chicago-based network of dedicated volunteers and their certified therapy dogs that offers rehabilitative therapy to people with physical and emotional challenges. Chenny Troupe provides interactive, animal-assisted therapy programs to a wide variety of populations. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a goal-directed intervention in which a trained, certified animal (Chenny Troupe uses only dogs in its programs) is an integral part of a rehabilitation or treatment process. Provided by a handler in a program developed with or by health care and human services professionals, AAT is designed to promote improvement in human physical, emotional and cognitive functions. With a structured visitation schedule that includes hospitals, rehabilitation centers for victims of serious trauma, programs for at-risk youth and recovery centers, the Chenny Troupe programs help restore health and hope to thousands of clients every year. 2007 Spring Cycle Brigadoon Youth and Service Dog Programs, Bellingham, WA $5,000 This service dog training program runs a partnership with a local high school serving at-risk teens and other students with special needs. The Paws Across Campus Program engages the youth of the community to help train dogs to perform tasks for children and adults with physical and/or developmental disabilities. The dogs go on to provide service for people with a range of disabilities, and include service, hearing, balance, seizure, social and therapy dogs. The semester-long program is bolstered by a reading curriculum, career guidance for dog-related job opportunities, fundraising activities, and therapy visits with dogs in training. Greater Austin Crime Commission 401 K-9 Program, Austin, TX $5,000 The Greater Austin Crime Commission is a foundation set up specifically to raise money for Austin, TX police departments. PDF is funding the 401 K-9 Program, which provides first aid trauma kits, bullet-proof vests, medication and other necessary equipment for working dogs in the various police stations around the City, as well as various Federal and state agencies. They sponsor a range of conferences to train canine units in safety, first aid, and extra measure to protect dogs working in law enforcement. Patten Free Library Paws for Reading Program, Bath, ME ($1,500) & Southwest Harbor Public Library Reader Dog Downeast Program ($750), Southwest Harbor, ME The Patten Free Library is a community reading resource for Bath and 5 surrounding towns. The Paws for Reading Program assists kids from 1st to 4th grade to improve their reading skills by reading aloud in one-on-one sessions with a trained therapy dog. The Southwest Harbor Public Library also offers the Reader Dog Downeast program to community children to strengthen literacy. The calming effects of a therapy dog in reading sessions have been proven to increase confidence, soothe nervous readers, and make reading time lots of fun. People. Animals. Love., Washington, D.C. PAL is pet therapy visitation program that brings people and animals together, brightening the lives of the lonely, easing the pain of the sick and enriching the world of at-risk children. Based in the metro-DC area, PAL utilizes 250 teams to visit 16 area facilities. They make more than 16,000 visits each year and include hospitals, schools, nursing homes and most recently, Walter Reed Medical Center. The Planet Dog Foundation is pleased to announce another year of funding, for Puppies Behind Bars, also a 2006 Grantee. Puppies Behind Bars, New York, NY Since 1997, Puppies Behind Bars has been training prison inmates to raise guide dogs for the blind and explosive detection canines for law enforcement. As the inmates raise their puppies, they work to benefit the outside community and in addition, towards their own rehabilitation. Because the puppies also need to be socialized to city life and acclimated to urban environments, puppies spend weekends in New York City with volunteers. These volunteers couple city socialization trips with visits to the often forgotten homebound elderly. PBB believes that through the “Paws and Reflect” program, the unconditional warmth that the pups bring to their inmate puppy raisers daily can also be used to lift the spirits of the homebound elderly in Manhattan. Service Dog Project, Inc., Ipswich, MA http://www.servicedogproject.org/ The Service Dog Project provides large breed “balance” dogs for people with mobility issues, enabling them to achieve more independence. They train primarily Great Danes for use people with Parkinson’s, MS and stroke-related impairments. The people who are partnered with these “gentle giants” get wonderful balance and mobility benefits and are freed from the need for a cane. The program is based on a farm in MA, and they visit the whole community during training, with therapeutic visits to nursing homes, schools and rehab centers.
2006 Fall Cycle $5,000 http://www.petshelpingkids.com/ Gabriel's Angels delivers pet therapy to abused, neglected and at-risk children, nurturing their ability to love and trust, thereby freeing them from the cycle of violence. Focus is on teaching social skills that prevent kids from triggering violence in adults and breaking the cycle of violence when they are grown. Based in Arizona, this non-profit organization is named for Gabriel, the first charter therapy dog. The "angels" are all the children, supporters and volunteers who team up to make the program a success. They have nearly 70 Certified Pet Therapy Teams that regularly visit crisis nurseries, domestic violence shelters, group homes and homeless shelters in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas.
International Hearing Dog, Inc., Henderson, CO $5,000 IHDI assists people with hearing loss by custom training dogs to alert them to many sounds in the home including the doorbell, smoke alarm, baby crying, alarm clock and phone. More than 1,000 hearing dogs have been trained by IHDI since 1979. All of the dogs selected for this special training come from local animal shelters. The dogs are mixed breeds, six months to a year in age, in good health, with aim-to-please, energetic personalities. The program uses only positive training methods, and is able to place dogs free of charge to their recipients.
New England K-9 Search & Rescue, White Mountains, New Hampshire $3,000 New England K-9 Search & Rescue conducts searches for missing skiers, hikers, mountaineers, children and elders. This highly trained White Mountain rescue team recently celebrated 25 years of free service to the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. On average, the all-volunteer handler/dog teams respond to 45 rescue calls per year. In one year alone, the teams were responsible for locating 5 children - all alive - as well as numerous adults. In addition to their primary role as a search and rescue organization, New England K-9 Search and Rescue is committed to educating children and adults about outdoor safety. They reach over 1,200 school children yearly with presentations, search demonstrations with the dogs and take-home "Lost Proofing" literature.
Susquehannah Service Dogs, Harrisburg, PA $3,000.00 http://www.keystonehumanservices.org/ssd/ssd.php The mission of Susquehannah Service Dogs is to train and provide service dogs and hearing dogs to assist children and adults with disabilities. Founded in 1993, SSD specializes in the training and placement of highly specialized service dogs. They have placed service dogs in more than 23 counties in Pennsylvania and several additional states. Each SSD dog helps individuals with spinal cord injuries, polio, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, arthritis, stroke and similar disabilities. Some dogs are trained to help people with psychiatric disorders and children with autism. With over 160 individuals and families who volunteer on a regular basis, SSD places approximately 15 service and/or hearing dogs each year.
U.C.L.A. Medical Center People-Animal Connection, Los Angeles, CA $4,000.00 http://www.healthcare.ucla.edu/shared/volunteering/ucla/pac-program Since 1994, UCLA Medical Center has been building one of the most comprehensive animal-assisted therapy and activity programs in the nation: People-Animal Connection. The program was founded to enhance physical healing and emotional well-being through canines' instinctive bond with patients of all ages, cultures, and socio-economic levels. Dogs, who are naturally interactive, provide relief from long days in the hospital, helping patients to shift their focus from discomfort to enjoyment. The animals' unconditional love and attention brighten everyone's day - patients, visitors and staff alike. PAC trains and certifies volunteer-dog teams who offer companionship and warmth to more than 400 critically ill children and adults each month.
2006 Spring Cycle
Launched in 1991, the Chenny Troupe is a Chicago-based network of dedicated volunteers and their certified therapy dogs that offers rehabilitative therapy to people with physical and emotional challenges. Chenny Troupe provides interactive, animal-assisted therapy programs to a wide variety of populations. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a goal-directed intervention in which a trained, certified animal (Chenny Troupe uses only dogs in its programs) is an integral part of a rehabilitation or treatment process. Provided by a handler in a program developed with or by health care and human services professionals, AAT is designed to promote improvement in human physical, emotional and cognitive functions. With a structured visitation schedule that includes hospitals, rehabilitation centers for victims of serious trauma, programs for at-risk youth and recovery centers, the Chenny Troupe programs help restore health and hope to thousands of clients every year.
National Education for Assistance Dog Service (NEADS) NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans helps children and adults who are deaf or physically disabled live more mobile, social and independent lives through partnership with a dog individually trained for their lifestyle and assistive needs. NEADS is the oldest continuing program to train Hearing Dogs, and the first program on the East Coast to train a service dog to assist someone who uses a wheelchair. The Laura J. Niles Puppy Nursery and Early Learning Center is where puppies from age 8-16 weeks live and learn obedience and basic skill training, embark on frequent field trips to enhance socialization skills, and do therapy visits at a wide variety of facilities.
Puppies Behind Bars, New York, NY Since 1997, Puppies Behind Bars has been training prison inmates to raise guide dogs for the blind and explosive detection canines for law enforcement. As the inmates raise their puppies, they work to benefit the outside community and in addition, towards their own rehabilitation. Because the puppies also need to be socialized to city life and acclimated to urban environments, puppies spend weekends in New York City with volunteers. These volunteers couple city socialization trips with visits to the often forgotten homebound elderly. PBB believes that through the “Paws and Reflect” program, the unconditional warmth that the pups bring to their inmate puppy raisers daily can also be used to lift the spirits of the homebound elderly in Manhattan.
Western Montana Search Dogs - Gallatin Gateway, MT WMSD is a volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing trained search dogs to requesting agencies. Our group has specially trained dog/handler teams in various locations throughout Montana. WMSD teams are specially trained and certified in avalanche rescue, air-scenting, trailing/tracking, water recovery, article/evidence retrieval and human remains recovery. Volunteer dog handlers complete hours of special training in first aid, the use of maps and compass, GPS, radio communications, search procedures, and avalanche safety. Typical searches include overdue hunters, drowning victims, snowmobilers or skiers caught in an avalanche, known body recovery in homicides or suiceides and lost children. WMSD works in conjunction with many other special search and rescue resources including divers, foot searchers, searchers on horseback, or in aircraft. All services are offered free of charge.
2005 The Linkage Project- Youth Alternatives, Portland, ME Planet Dog Philanthropy is proud to offer a $5,000 grant to Youth Alternatives in support of the Linkage Project. Anecdotal evidence in the fields of animal welfare and family violence indicate that when elders or children are reported to be abused, animal cruelty likely exists as a secondary concern, and vice versa. With the support of a PDP grant, the Linkage Project will work to develop statewide professional training, and community education components highlighting the significant link between animal abuse and family violence, and educate professionals and the community about identification, reporting and prevention of such abuse throughout the state of Maine. The project will train professionals in Maine and eventually take the expertise gathered locally and replicate the project nationally. Androscoggin River Clean-Up – Communities
Getting Involved, Turner, ME Scrub the Scogg! Communities Getting Involved ( CGI) operates the River and Lake Clean-Up program which mobilizes community resources in the pursuit of cleaning the Androscoggin River. CGI organizes community clean-up events to remove garbage from the waterway and improve the watershed as a whole. These events also serve to increase awareness, caring, and visibility of local watershed conservation. The program also responds to emergency garbage cleanups, works with other conservation entities to complete river surveys, and collaborates with governmental and non-governmental bodies on a variety of projects. Journeyperson Program- Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners
Association, Unity, ME No farms, no food. Planet Dog is thrilled to support the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Journeyperson/Farm Apprenticeship Program. This program is dedicated to making good farmers good businesspeople. The program works to provide the next generation of highly trained, highly skilled organic farmers who are ready to step into the role of stewards of Maine’s farm lands, thereby preserving family farms for the near future and for future generations. The apprenticeship program offers skilled farmers advanced training in farm business management and product marketing. The essential business tools can make all the difference in a farmer’s success in the marketplace and thus their ability to sustain themselves and their families while preserving our farmlands and providing a healthy source of produce. Planet Dog Emergency Pet Care Fund - ETHOS, Boston, MA The mission of ETHOS is to assist seniors and disabled adults to live safely and comfortably at home. The services are designed as supplemental to the care offered by family members, friends or other agencies. We are proud to establish the Planet Dog Emergency Pet Care Fund to offer critical funding for those very low income elders and disabled adults so they can care for and maintain the pets that in turn help sustain them. The fund will be used for inexpensive but essential veterinary care that sustains pets and thus allows them to continue living at home with the elders and disabled adults that have come to depend on their companionship.
2004 Trekkers Tenants Harbor , Maine Mission : This wonderful program is educational yet also has a strong environmental focus for students. Knox County Parent Education and Family Services This is a collaborative b/w Penobscot Bay Medical Center, Mid-Coast Children's Services, Univ. Of Maine Cooperative Extension and the Teen and Young Parent Program of Knox County. Rockland , Maine Mission : Androscoggin Watershed Council Mission: The Place for Wild Birds, Inc. Mission:
2003
Mission : Cold Noses, Warm Hearts Other key points:
Monadnock Area
Cooperative School; Hancock, NH; Mission : Program: Environmental Stewardship. Composting provides a way of instilling in children a sense of environmental stewardship. Many school programs focus in reduce, reuse, and recycle. Composting is the next step in the process, but many times it is ignored. Composting makes children aware of how food and organic waste can be transformed into a rich, valuable dirt that nourishes the earth. This will be the second year of the program, after a successful first year. 50 Children, ages 2-14, will benefit from the program, as well as the community at large b/c of the reduction in waste generated by the school. They aim to make the students aware of the earth’s mounting solid waste problem, how composing can help address the problem and how their actions can directly impact this! Lakes Environmental Association;
Bridgton, Maine: Mission :
Mission : We are supporting their Spay/Neuter Program. We received a record number of proposals from humane societies for Spay/Neuter programs, and in fairness to these programs, this year PDP is supporting a spay/neuter program that is well run, has good leadership, and that submitted an excellent proposal. In the future, we may have humane societies apply under the new PDP Product Donation Grant Program rather than the primary grant program, but in the meantime I feel it is important to assist this crucial element of so many humane societies. It may not be as “sexy” as other animal welfare programs, but it is important nonetheless.
2002
$5,000 grant to Equest, a therapeutic horseback-riding program in Lyman Maine that serves adults and children with disabilities. Equest’s mission is to foster positive horse and human interaction within an experiential learning environment in order to facilitate physical, mental and emotional well-being. Their vision is to build a diverse set of equine-facilitated therapeutic programs and activities based on a philosophy of inclusion, experiential learning, and respect for people and our natural world. In 2001, Equest worked with over 85 children and adults with disabilities
in southern Maine and the New Hampshire seacoast. They divide their
services into two programs, the Challenged Rider Program and the
Equine Adventure Program. The Challenged Rider Program, which represents
75% of Equest’s operations, works with people with physical
and cognitive disabilities including down syndrome, autism, cerebral
palsy, learning disabilities, mental retardation, spinal cord injury,
stroke and developmental delays. The Equine Adventure Program works
with teens and pre-teens with behavioral and emotional challenges,
such as depression, oppositional defiant disorder and post-traum
$2,500 grant to Marine Animal Lifeline, a Maine nonprofit founded in 1994 that is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of stranded marine mammals. Their mission is to: Rescue and rehabilitate ill or injured marine mammals and release them to the wild as healthy animals;
Form and maintain cooperative relationships with other stranding organizations, rehabilitation facilities, and the community-at-large to ensure survival of marine animals and their environment. PDP is supporting their Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release Program. Forever Paws Animal Shelter $1,500 to Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Planet Dog product. Located in Fall River Massachusetts, Forever Paws is a center for abused and neglected pets with a 98% adoption rate. PDP and Planet Dog are donating dog beds, water bowls, dog toys and other fun Planet Dog products. $2,500 grant to Portland Trails, an urban land trust that was founded in 1991 whose mission is to 1. Create a 30-mile network of trails within Greater Portland; 2. Serve as a public advocate for the protection of and access to natural places within the region; and 3. To encourage the participation of neighborhoods, schools and the business community in trail use and stewardship. The open spaces that Portland Trails preserves and the trails they create are available to everyone regardless of their economic status or background. They provide safe and fun places for recreation, exercise and the enjoyment of nature. Portland Trails has also built primitive trails throughout the area for the enjoyment of hikers, bird-watchers and mountain bikers. They also run an educational program, Greening School Grounds: Trails to Leadership that aims to improve Portland’s school yards by creating outdoor environments that offer children a broad range of options for reflection, exploration and the ability to investigate play in natural settings. They hope to educate children, our future stewards, about the importance of the natural world and preserving it. PDP is supporting a new program being launched: “Engaging the Community: Volunteer Program Enhancement.” Our grant will allow Portland Trails to expand their trail building efforts by hiring a part-time, seasonal; “Trail Crew Leader/Carpenter” to help manage students and other volunteers on trail building and maintenance projects.
2001
Junior Achievement, of Maine, Inc. PDP awarded a $5,000 grant to the Junior Achievement of Maine, Inc., an organization that educates and inspires young people to value business and entrepreneurship in order to improve the quality of their lives. The PDP grant will support the Volunteer Recruitment Program. Junior Achievement delivers programs to grades K-12, reaching more than 8,800 students in Maine and 3.2 million nationwide. Volunteers throughout the state work with Junior Achievement of Maine, Inc. to find innovative ways to reach young people. Caring corporate citizens educate them about business by bringing them into the business world for hands-on experience. Junior Achievement is about passionate people inspiring kids to learn the economics of life through free enterprise education. Volunteers, at the core of the program, become role models and mentors to many students and present them with varying perspectives and job opportunities to pursue, as they get older. Many of the students in the program are rarely taught or exposed to the idea of diversity and this program aims to broaden their horizons. We selected Junior Achievement, in part, because of their ability to foster interactive learning, their ability to encourage community members to invest in the future of their children, all the while cultivating an environment in which learning is fun and creative. My Wonderful Dog PDP has awarded a $5,000 grant to My Wonderful Dog, a Maine non-profit organization that provides specialized training for dogs that assist people with a wide range of emotional and physical disabilities. The PDP grant awarded to My Wonderful Dog will be used to help fund The Teen-Trained Assistance Dog program (TTAD) that will engage teens as trainers, increase the number of assistance dogs and help teens develop self-esteem, confidence and respect for animals. Through a yearlong instructional course at the Spurwink School in Portland, students in the TTAD program will be responsible for training the dogs. With the help of students, My Wonderful Dog hopes to train more exceptional dogs and at a lower cost. Many of the students at the Spurwink School have emotional and behavioral disorders. The teen program aims to help students gain control of their behavior and maximize their emotional health and social functioning. The Teen-Training Assistance program allows students to learn about caring, respect and responsibility by serving others through a non-threatening relationship with a dog. In the classes, the teens will learn grooming, canine behavioral theory, training methodologies and participate in various exercises designed to sensitize them to the challenges of being disabled. Students must exercise self-control and patience as they interact and bond with their dogs. At the end of the training, dogs are placed with carefully selected disabled recipients. The teens attend a ceremony where they present their dogs to the new disabled partner. This gives them great pride and positive recognition for their hard work and dedication to the dogs. Elsa Larsen, in conjunction with the Spurwink School, has designed a comprehensive and valuable program that creatively combines education with animal welfare, all the while creating a bridge between dogs, youth and disabled community members. We proudly support My Wonderful Dog's commitment to teach children and adults the value of kindness towards animals and the Spurwink School's mission to help Maine teenagers with emotional, behavioral and other development disorders.
PDP has awarded a $2,500 grant to Friends of Casco Bay, a Maine non-profit organization that improves and protects the environmental health of Casco Bay. The PDP grant will help fund the "Bayscaping" program which has been launched to improve the water quality in Casco Bay through solid scientific monitoring and public education. Specifically, the funding from PDP will be used to expand nutrient and chlorophyll monitoring and broaden the outreach and educational elements of the program. With more than 270,000 people, a quarter of the state's population, enjoying the privilege of living near Casco Bay, the Bayscaping program is critical for the future health of this area. The Bay provides food, jobs, recreation and beauty, but it is threatened by toxic pollutants, sewage, oil spills, marine debris and industrial activities. Bayscaping actively addresses and attacks these threats. Baykeeper Joe Payne, who has won the Governor’s Stewardship Award for Environmental Excellence, oversees the BayScaping Program. Payne credits the effectiveness of Friends of Casco Bay to the people in the surrounding communities who share a deep-rooted commitment to Casco Bay. We believe that stewardship of Maine's natural resources is essential. Therefore, we are committed to supporting programs that preserve our natural environment and teach others to protect and plan for a healthier earth for future generations. We are proud to support Friends of Casco Bay's efforts to improve the water quality by educating the public about their role in marine conservation and how important it is to lower homeowners' use of pesticides and fertilizers in the watershed of Casco Bay.
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The Planet Dog Foundation has teamed up with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to provide a $20,000 grant to the Bonnie Bergin Assistance Dog Institute in Santa Rosa, CA in support of their Paws for Purple Hearts Program. Paws for Purple Hearts engages returning wounded service men and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to train service dogs. Working with the dogs serves as a therapeutic intervention for PTSD soldiers, providing profound emotional benefits. The trained service dogs are then placed with other returned military men and women who have sustained paraplegia or quadriplegia as a result of combat. The ultimate goal of the Paws for Purple Heart program is to create a national network to serve veterans with disabilities across the entire country. Paws for Purple Hearts is a cooperative project between Assistance Dog Institute and veterans hospitals and rehabilitation centers. The pilot program is being established at the Walter Reed Medical Center, where the Planet Dog Foundation also supports therapy dog visitation and the development of new service dog equipment designed with wounded combat veterans in mind. 
The study will examine the impact of dog visitation on a child’s affective state, mood and anxiety, and will be published internationally. Specific goals include defining the best practices of dog visitation, and creating a case for increased funding for programs. The PDF grant is earmarked to support the execution and dissemination of this study.
Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota enhances the quality of life for people living with a disability by creating mutually beneficial partnerships with specially trained dogs that are placed free of charge. HSDM is now training autism assist dogs for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families. Autism dogs are trained primarily as “anchors” to help keep children from fleeing, especially while in a public setting. The dogs also help socialize the difficult to reach child, and helps a child to make new friends, as people are inherently drawn towards dogs. Dogs can help make connections with severely autistic children. The presence of a dog is very helpful for the parents of an autistic child, as they can let their guard down while in public knowing the dog will keep the child safe. Our dogs are trained in specific techniques that focus on safety for the child and providing a calming influence and peace of mind for the entire family.
Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation (WDCF) is comprised of wildlife professionals who develop and further the training and use of canine-human teams for non-invasive scientific inquiry, conservation and management. High-drive dogs, who face euthanasia because of their energy and exercise needs, are rescued from shelters and trained to work on conservation projects locating more than 20 species of animals, as well as rare and endangered plants. Dogs have proven to be well adapted to finding the scat of animal species and the foliage of a variety of plants, all while burning their excess energy and being rewarded for their finds with the play they urgently need. The Dog Life Program provides a positive and fulfilling life for conservation detection dogs throughout their selection, training, working and daily lives. 
The Planet Dog Foundation is proud to affirm its relationship with its previous grantees by awarding renewal grants to the following previously funded programs:
Through educational and vocational programs, Assistance Dogs of the West provides trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities in order to increase self-reliance. The program uses professional trainers to teach students to train assistance, psychiatric, social therapy and seizure dogs to work with people with disabilities. The PDF grant is in support of their partnership with the New Mexico Department of Children, Youth and Family Services, to train juvenile detainees ages 12-19 how to train service dogs to perform 90 commands to help a person in need of an assistance dog. The at-risk students gain knowledge, build responsibility and compassionate awareness of people with different abilities, while making concrete contributions to the community. The curriculum teaches leadership, behavioral health and positive concrete vocational skills through the hands-on responsibility of caring for an assistance dog critical to another person’s independence. 
The mission of Freedom Service Dogs is to rescue dogs from shelters and train them to assist people with disabilities, increasing their independence and peace of mind. All of their dogs involved in the program are rescued from Colorado shelters, and provided free of charge to their clients. Dogs that do not excel as service dogs are fully trained and placed in adoptive homes as therapy dogs or pets- they have achieved a 100% placement of their dogs after training. They also conduct more than 100 outreach and educational events each year, creating increased public awareness about various mobility impairments, the positive impact service dogs have on the lives of people who are disabled and the rights and etiquette involving service dogs.
Soul Friends provides innovative clinical and educational programs for children that promote the healing benefits of the human-animal bond. PDF will support two programs: Heeling Hearts is an eight-week supportive group program for at-risk kids utilizing therapy dogs to explore the loss, trauma, grief and illness that have impacted their lives. The empathetic connection with the animals allows the children to express complex emotions in a safe environment. Come, Follow Me! is a six-week program of dog training and social skills training for children affected with Autism spectrum disorders. Studies have proven that dogs allow connection with children with autism that people often cannot achieve, establishing critical communication that lasts well beyond the dogs’ involvement with the children.
Teacher’s Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together works to empower at-risk youth to address issues of apathy, cruelty and violence in today’s society while providing unwanted shelter dogs with behavior issues a second chance at finding a loving, permanent home. Participants are paired with difficult-top-adopt shelter dogs for a ten-week workshop centered on proper care and basic “good manners.” The program runs year-round in schools and summer camps, targeting emotionally impaired youth with severe behavior disorders and shelter dogs with behavioral issues. While the children gain increased self-esteem, empathy and compassion, dogs once considered unadoptable are saved from euthanasia and adopted into loving, permanent families.
Youthlinks; Rockland, Maine $5,000 
Animal Friends for Education and Welfare; 
Equest 
atic
stress disorder. PDP is supporting Equest’s “Adopt-A-Horse” Program,
sponsoring Carnival King, a 22-year-old 17.2 English thoroughbred
horse who is now one of five therapy horses at Equest and who is
central to the program’s success. Carnival, in the words of
Sarah Chappell Armentrout, Equest’s founder and Director, is: “Forever
a professional when it comes to his work, with his large stature
but gentle and noble qualities.” We are honored to be supporting
this amazing horse, as he helps the lives of numerous individuals.
Marine Animal Lifeline 
Portland Trails 
Friends of Casco Bay