Accomplish With Kylie: Helping Paws
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The service dogs you see helping people around are always so impressive, but it takes years of training to reach that level.
Helping Paws is a nonprofit that has placed 200 dogs over the last 29 years with families that need them.
"It doesn't feel like training anymore. It just feels like a natural process," Kim Torell said, who has been training a 2-year-old Golden Retriever named Brodie.
But it takes some time to get to that point. Volunteers take the puppies home at 8 weeks old and start training.
"Once the dog is with you that dog is part of your life," Pam Anderson, Director of Development at Helping Paws, said.
The dogs go everywhere with their foster families so they are always learning and training. But there are also special training sessions that happen at Helping Paws.
Dudley's the youngest of the group, so he's still learning the basics.
"He's still in the training phase," Tim Daun, Dudley's owner, said. "He's still learning, doing good though."
By the time their training is complete, they know around 70 different cues and skills like opening doors, switching on and off lights and basic retrieving.
"It probably takes a couple of months to learn those new skills," Katy Shannon, Mare's owner, said.
After about two years with volunteers the matching process begins, pairing each dog and their skills with the home that needs them most.
"We sort of refer to it as speed dating," Torell said.
Service dogs go to people who have disabilities and within the last few years, Helping Paws has placed dogs with veterans.
For the volunteers, passing off their dog is a bittersweet moment.
"Oh yes, it is hard," Shannon said. "For me it was hard. But then you see them out in public and it just makes everything wonderful."
But knowing your dog is changing someone's life makes it the whole process worth it.
"It's a lot easier giving a gift to that person," Daun said.
Helping Paws is always looking for new volunteers. If you're interested in fostering a dog, they have open houses coming up on March 3 and 4.
