Lend a Paw trainers and New Leash On Life staff, skilled in obedience and temperament testing, will select dogs from the shelter.

After evaluation, some dogs will be entered into the Lend a Paw program while the majority of dogs will be placed in the Adoption Program and made available for immediate adoption.

Dogs entering the Lend a Paw program will go through a 6 week training course, at the end of which the LAP trainers and Program Manager will evaluate each dog and determine its level of competency. Dogs that have completed training but do not have the needed temperament for therapy work will be placed for adoption fully trained and ready to go to a loving home. This is also unique to rescue groups, but helps to guarantee an easier transition into its new home while ensuring a permanent placement. The new parents will also go through training to learn to maintain the dog’s good manners and obedience training.

The dogs who exhibit the temperament required and the ability to learn more complex behaviors will move on to begin training to become Social/Therapy dogs. Once this training is complete, the dog will be ready to visit hospitals, schools, senior care centers and other locations to enhance the lives of people.

Certify Your Dog as a Therapy Dog
    Get involved in the Lend a Paw program with your own dog. If your dog has the right temperament but doesn’t have his basic obedience skills, you can take our 6 week course to prepare both of you for certification.

Foster a Lend a Paw Rescue
    Don’t have a dog of your own? We need foster homes for our therapy dogs. Help our program by fostering one of our dogs while they get trained by a LAP trainer. For those that like more involvement, you can also go through the training with your foster dog! This would enable you to go to visitations with our Lend a Paw teams once certification is complete.

Volunteer as a Handler or Join Us at our Therapy Locations
    Still interested in helping but you don’t have your own dog or the ability to foster? You can still get involved! Learn how to work with a current LAP dog or volunteer your time to join us at some of our therapy locations or the Ranch.

Adopt a Lend a Paw Dog
    If you are looking to adopt and have always wanted to be involved in therapy work, we offer a unique opportunity to adopt a dog that has already been trained and certified as a Social/Therapy dog. In some instances, Lend a Paw dogs may be available for adoption to a family in need. For more information about adopting a LAP dog, click here.

Sponsor a Lend a Paw Dog
    Training and caring for our dogs can be very costly. If you cannot be physically involved, you can still help by sponsoring one of our therapy dogs!