We train free service dogs for people with physical disabilities other than blindness, focusing specifically on mobility assistance and hearing alert dogs. We also provide free dogs to veterans with PTSD. We seek applicants who live within 4 hours driving time of Brewster, NY.
Each dog is uniquely trained to perform tasks to assist their matched recipient. Our service dogs will walk next to their person on a loose leash – no pulling or lunging, and perform tasks as needed – assist their person in going up and down stairs, assist their person to restabilize their balance, retrieve a dropped item, fetch items, open drawers, doors , alert them to sounds and their environment, sweep an area, soothe them, stand in front to keep people away, etc.
If you require a hypoallergenic diabetic, psychiatric, or seizure alert service dog, or an emotional support dog, please contact us at info@putnamservicedogs.org. We’ll recommend other sources for you to find your dog.
How long will you wait for a service dog from us? Unfortunately, the demand is very very strong, stronger than we can meet. Our resources – donations, great dogs, and volunteer puppy raisers, limit the number of service dogs we can train.
Who we match with one of our graduating dogs depends on the needs of the applicant, their home situation, and their ability to care for the dog. When we introduce a graduating dog to a potential recipient, we look for immediate chemistry – the dog happily walking next to the person, matching their speed and gait, loose leash and checking in with them. A happy, loving dog will work harder for their person. Our graduating dog is the ultimate decision maker.
We train carefully selected, mixed breed pups from rescue groups as our service dogs. We train our service dogs an average of 2,000 hours, over 2 years. If a dog shows us it’s not meant to be a service dog, we adopt it to someone with disabilities as an emotional support animal. Since the demand is huge for our release dogs also, we can’t meet that demand. After we do paper matches of potential adopters, the dog is the ultimate decision maker on who is its person and family.
To apply for a service dog, please complete the following application. All required fields * must be completed for the form to submit.
Please note that applying does not guarantee you will receive a service dog.
Any misrepresentation(s) on the application will result in disqualification of the applicatio