Facility Dog Program

Our Facility Dogs

Facility dogs are expertly trained dogs who partner with a facilitator (handler) working in a education, health care, social welfare or other non-profit or social services setting. Diggity Dogs trains and places facility dogs that are Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers and Goldadors (Labrador x Golden Retrievers) that are 2 to 3 years old when placed. Each dog's training is tailored specifically to meet the needs of the facility and population they will be working in/with.  Please explore this process in great detail, from beginning to end, below!

How Our Program Works (Our Process)

1)  Application

Application and $100 application fee are received by us and we contact you within two business days to set up a phone interview. Our main application is directed towards service dog clients.*

(*IMPORTANT: Please answer the questions on the application in relation to the population you service, rather than in relation to the primary handler.)

2) Interview

Phone interview during which the whole program is explained in great detail from start to finish and we answer all the questions you may have. The first half of the call is spent understanding the desired goals for the facility dog sought, the environment/facility the dog would work in, the population served and the primary handler's situation. The second half of the call is our team explaining how our program works in great detail.

3) Detailed Facility & Handler Profile Submission

Applicant gets facility description forms to complete and return to ensure we have a thorough understanding of the facility the dog is desired for and information related to the person(s) that will be handling the dog.

4) Facility & Handler Profile Review

We receive and review the aforementioned forms and then reply with any additional questions or requests for information.  A site visit may be required.

5.) Acceptance Response

After a complete review of all application materials with our team, we get back to you with a final decision regarding acceptance into our program within two working days.

6.) Enrollment

If the facility application is accepted, they are considered enrolled once they make a $5000 deposit. The cost of a Facility Dog is between $30,000-$50,000, depending on the complexity of the facility environment and the location of the facility in relation to the DIggity Dogs campus. The cost to each specific facility will be set upon reviewing all interview materials, prior to offering acceptance. Once a facility enrolls they can expect to wait two to three years for their dog.

Facilities can decide to pay a lump sum, pay via payment plan or fundraise for their facility dog.  Fundraising can be done independently or through our website/fundraising platform. How this all functions is discussed in detail in the interview process and included in the information packet provided after each interview.

7.) Training Profile Development

We collaborate with facility to identify what services the facility's population would benefit from the dog performing. We also discuss the nuances of the challenges the dog will face in the facility environment, so that the dog's training may be customized to meet those challenges.

8.) Notification of Dog Assignment & Scheduling Training

As we get closer to a facility’s placement date, once we are absolutely sure which dog is the best match, we notify the client which dog they will be receiving and send them a brief description of their dog and some photos of the Facility Dog they will receive. At this point, we also begin scheduling handler training.

9) Handler Training

Each Facility Dog's primary handler(s) are required to come to participate in a training at our facility to learn how to work with their dog.  The exact schedule and duration of Facility Dog handler trainings is customized to each placement and designed in concert with the recipient facility.

10.) Post-Placement

After clients go home with their dog they are required to follow a post-placement plan. For the first six months after placement, clients are required to have regular check-ins without team and practice sessions with their dog. We find that some clients have no issues post placement from the day they leave, while others may have lots of questions for the first few months. The post-placement process is designed to offer clients support while they acclimate to living and working with the dog.  We find that even those clients that take a while to settle into their new partnership, are working smoothly and fully bonded with their dogs after 2-3 months, however, we like to continue regular check-ins for six months just so that clients always feel like they have a support system in place. After six months we move to checking in with each client with a simple phone call every 3 months for the next 2 years.  This is our way of ensuring that everything is going well and to hear how amazing the dog is doing in their new life as a Facility Dog!

Fundraising Timeline and Policy

We try to get our dogs to our clients as quickly as possible, but, obviously, we cannot have a dog who is ready to graduate but their client isn’t ready/able to make payment. Additionally, we cannot have clients whose fundraising has been stagnant for a year or two suddenly come to us with the full amount and assuming that their dog will be ready immediately, as it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to prepare a dog for a client and we cannot do this overnight.

In order to accurately match our training timeline with your fundraising timeline, we have developed this protocol for all fundraising clients. We understand that the nature of fundraising is uncertain and that sometimes there are periods of great progress while other times the progress slows down. Therefore, for fundraising client, we will not assign a dog to their specific training profile until we have received around 70% of their campaign total.  We will not set a placement/intensive date until we have received 90% of the total amount due. Full payment is required at least one month prior to placement.

As we discuss in the interview, all of our dogs learn a core curriculum of 80 behaviors before we assign them a specific training profile, which usually happens when they are a year old.  So, it is not as if you are assigned a puppy when you get assigned a dog. Clients are assigned dogs that have already learned the majority of the curriculum, including an array of service tasks. They just have not learned the tasks that are unique to an individual client and the pairing of service tasks with the symptoms outlined in each client’s symptoms and services worksheet/training profile.

We trust that you find this policy fair and reasonable.  If you need longer than the 18-24 months to raise funds, that is not a problem.  This policy will enable us to cater to individual needs while still being able to plan our training and assignments appropriately.

For more information, please email applications@indogswetrust.org or call 914-222-DOGS (3647).

IMPORTANT NOTE: All payments are final and non-refundable.  Clients must apply, be interviewed, and accepted to the program, before paying.  All donations using our fundraising platform on our website are also all non-refundable. 

Ready to Apply?

There are three (3) simple steps to applying outlined in the yellow box on this page.

Thank you for your interest in our program.  We look forward to working together!