Apply for a 4 Paws Assistance Dog

Click on the appropriate link to download an application for a service dog from 4 Paws for Ability

• Adult Application Form
• Child Application Form

The purpose of 4 Paws is to provide quality trained service dogs to people with disabilities without regard to age or severity of disability. Training is recipient specific and includes Autism, Mobility Assistance, Signal/Hearing Ear, Seizure Assistance, Emotional Support and Multi-purpose Service Dogs.

4 Paws is known across the US and throughout the world for our work with children, as most agencies will not place dogs with young children. 4 Paws uses a three-unit team (parent/caregiver, child, and dog) with the Caregiver being in charge of the dog in all places of public accommodation.

The 4 Paws Mission Pawsible™ program seeks to help prison inmates find empowerment and improved self esteem through the training of service dogs for people with disabilities. The Rover Rehab program takes shelter dogs and places them in training programs in either the Warren County Correctional Institute male prison (WCI), Franklin County Pre-Release female Prison (FPR) and Lakin Correctional Center.

In the prisons, a 4 Paws' trainer teams with the inmates to train the dogs on basic obedience skills, socialization and manners. The dogs emerge from the Rover Rehab program with the necessary foundational skills required of a service dog. The 4 Paws trainer then trains each dog for the unique requirements of its future Client - search and rescue capabilities, hearing/ear capabilities, physical assistance, etc. As of April, 2007 4 Paws had 45 dogs in the Rover Rehab program, and we hope to increase the number of dogs being trained via Rover Rehab as our client demand increases.

Training service dogs is costly. It costs 4 Paws an average of $22,000 per dog placed. At 4 Paws we partner with our clients who become volunteer fund raisers for 4 Paws and make a commitment to raise a minimum of $13,000 for the agency in order to qualify for a dog. Dogs are trained to specifically address the needs of our Client—the cost of a dog increases with the amount of training that is required to address our Client's needs.

4 Paws works in partnership with recipients and offers fundraising assistance. Donations are accepted by 4 Paws on behalf of the recipient. Since 1998, 4 Paws has placed over 500 dogs.

We have grown from being a local agency to a nationally recognized organization, as we have now placed dogs in nearly all 50 states, Canada, and New Zealand.

Download your application today. Who knows what tomorrow may hold?

Top of Page