Our Dogs and Pups

"V" Puppies!

Our "V" pups were born October 17, 2007. There are 2 females and 6 males. Their mother, Marilyn, is a second time mom. Webb, the dad, is an ADI supporter and show dog.

The puppies love to be petted by trained volunteers. Stop by and give them a hug!

Our Dogs and Pups

The Institute is devoted to "Helping Dogs Help People". After years of research we've identified that the breeds of dogs most suited to Service Dog work are Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers and crosses between these two breeds.

By having our own breeding program, we are able to produce dogs whose temperament and physical characteristics make them ideal Service Dog candidates.

All dogs begin their training as Service Dogs as early as three weeks old. During the training process, some dogs are identified for "career changes" to graduate as Social/Therapy Dogs or Facility Dogs.

In some cases, we provide dogs to other Assistance Dog programs. One example is Assistance Dogs of the West who purchased three of our pups to train for their program. Another is our dog Vanna who graduated from the San Francisco SPCA hearing Dog Program. See their stories below.

Vanna's New Career as a Hearing Dog

Vanna participated in the semester of hearing dog training in the college program. The instructor, Glenn Martyn of SFSPCA Hearing Dog Program stated that he would like to have her if she didn’t make it as a service dog. Vanna is a wonderfully sweet and energetic dog and we felt that hearing dog work was her calling. We gave Vanna to the Hearing Dog Program and she graduated 4 months later!

Oliver's New career as a Social/Therapy Dog

Oliver was trained by Wink Grelis, college student and now marketing manager here at ADI. Her husband, Bill Crowell fell in love with Oliver during the course of his training. Oliver has a perfect service dog temperament and was performing his tasks beautifully . It was discovered that he had hip dysplasia so his career path took a turn toward social/therapy. Oliver was placed with Bill as a social/therapy team and the two now visit a hospital, a retirement home and do a reading program in two local schools.

Puppy Purchase Success Stories

Carole Shay of Alaska Assistance Dogs purchased Vera and Victor when they were 5 months old. Both dogs participated in her High School Program, and in social/therapy visits while they were in training. Victor recently graduated as a service dog and Vera is awaiting placement.

Jill Felice of Assistance Dogs of the West purchased Tucker, Tiisha and Tacker(renamed Thorpe). Tucker and Thorpe were successfully placed as service dogs and Tiisha is going to be a breeder for her program.