If it wasn’t for volunteers, PAD would not be the organization that it is today! There are numerous opportunities available to volunteer with our program. 

FOSTERING:
A lot of people shy away from the idea of fostering a service dog in training, because they may feel that their training skills are inadequate to teach the dog the necessary tasks. You don’t have to be a seasoned trainer to foster one of our dogs. What you do have to be is open to learning, follow PAD protocol regarding what the dog is allowed and not allowed to do, and to socialize the dog as much as possible. Service dogs in training (in Minnesota and many other states) are allowed the same public access rights as fully trained service dogs.

While we take excellent care of our dogs at the facility, an in-home environment (whether for a week or several months) is always preferred so that we can learn things about that dog that we can’t always gain at the kennel. 

FOSTER DOCUMENTS & APPLICATION:
If you are interested in fostering a service dog and want to know exactly how it works, please navigate to the FOSTER APPLICATION WEBPAGE.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES:
If you don’t want to foster a dog in-house, you can still come to the facility during the training courses and run our dogs in training through the courses. Having different handlers work with our dogs helps us to see how they will work for their Veteran. Some of our Veterans have advanced dog handling skills and some of them have never had a dog before. Your skill level (whether beginning or advanced) helps us determine what we need to work on with the dog. 
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OTHER OPPORTUNITIES: 
We also attend many events throughout the year, and are always looking for people to help at our booths to help promote the program. 

If you are interested in volunteering for PAD, please download and complete this short volunteer application and return it to us by mail, email, or in person.