Alert! We are seeking low-cost veterinary care for all our dogs in the state. If you are a vet or Shelter,
please contact us and review our
Dog and
Vet policy. Our goal is to offer low cost care for all our disabled
handlers and puppy raisers as they work, travel and live in Florida.
Who we are? Service Dogs of Florida, Inc. is a
non-profit 501(c)3, Service Dog school,
servicing all of Florida. We have trainers and puppy-raiser across the state and can service almost any area.
We train a number of school dogs in Hearing, Mobility, PTSD, and Medical Alert and also assist owners trainers
in furthering their dogs abilities.
We are for Florida Residents Only!
Of the 55 million people with disabilities in the US, 5% (250,0000) have hearing, sight or an invisable condition
that could be helped by using a service dogs, i.e. seizure, PTSD. To date only 20,000 service dog teams are in daily
use. There is a huge demand for well-trained service dogs, as shown by the long wait lists from other schools. The
people looking for service dogs often spend years following paper trails and sitting on waiting lists only to be
denied. Most service dog providers have multiple year waiting lists and restrictive eligibility criteria.
This school was created to help fill some that demand and reduce the travel associated with Service Dog training.
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Emergency Vet Services
Current Dogs in Training
We need Puppy Raisers!
Faq
Assorted Docs
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Financial Support
'Support Our Paws!'
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Make a Donation
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or via PayPal
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Roughly 3,000 Service Dog teams from all schools & trainers, nationwide, graduate every year.
Dogs serve about 10 years before needing replaced, reducing the number available for new canidates.
Our Mission
Service Dogs of Florida is a not-for-profit organization that offers
dignity, hope, and independence by providing highly trained & skilled service dogs and technology to individuals with
disabilities while serving the community by advancing public education of disabilities, the ADA and service dogs
through advocacy, education, research and service.
Tory with her deaf handler
SDFL's first dog to Stage 3.
Tory was adopted from the Orlando SPCA when she was 6 months old. |
What We Do
We adopt every dog in our program from an animal shelter, rescue group or
occasional owner release. Our prefered shelters are: Orlando SPCA, Lakeland SPCA and Tampa SPCA.
We invest nearly $3,000 and up to 2,000 hours to train each Service Dog team (dog and person).
Thanks to your donations, we provide the dogs and training at little or no charge to the disabled handler.
Hearing Dogs alert their deaf partners by touch and lead them to a variety of important everyday sounds, including
a knock at the door, a smoke alarm, an alarm clock and a baby's cry. They respond to oral and sign language commands.
Service Dogs assist physically challenged individuals by opening doors and refrigerators, fetching out of reach
wheelchairs, retrieving dropped items, turning lights on and off, getting help and moving paralyzed limbs. They also
perform customized tasks such as assistance with clothing and specialized equipment.
We also train Service Dogs to assist persons with balance while walking, e.g. people who have had polio, strokes
or Parkinson's.
Service Dogs also provide emotional and social benefits through companionship and encouragement of
greater interaction from others.
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Our Goals
Train, Educate, Grow.
- Make known the benefits of a Service Dog to the public and disabled.
- Individually train each dog to perform above the expectations of the client.
- Educate the client on how to properly use the dog.
- Inform the public of the ADA and the rights of the disabled with service dogs.
- Grow the school through community involvement and support
- Never lose sight of our mission.
Our training school is designed to assist Florida residents with:
Hearing Loss - Hearing Dog Guides aka. Hearing Service Dogs or Hearing Dogs
Mobility Loss - Service and Support Dogs
Therapy Dogs - Hospital and care giving facilities certified
Speciality Dogs - Multiple Disabilities
When you see a Service Dog in Public
You may see a person using a Service Dog, or even a Trainer, in a public place like the shopping mall. Florida
and U.S. law allow public access with the dogs. When you see a person with a Service Dog, you can ask them, "May I
pet your dog?" If they say yes, follow their instructions on how to pet the dog. That way, you show respect for the
person and do not interfere with the dog's training. We recommend you do not pet the dog, the dogs have a strict
work/play mentality using the vest as a switch. If you play with a Service Dog while working, it would not be
'working' and may confuse it's training as it would think it was in 'play' mode. Training is about consistency.
Service Dogs of Florida uses positive training methods. We do not use any force, punishment or corrections
in our training methods. We use fun, rewards and lots of surprises to keep our dogs motivated and eager to please.
We now offer AKC-CGC Test to pet owners.
Canine Good Citizen
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