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June 23 |
Thank
you for visiting The OccuPaws Guide Dog
Association's website. OccuPaws is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, charitable organization located in
Madison, WI. OccuPaws is an
innovative, creative and life-changing organization dedicated
to empowering the visually impaired while raising
awareness and education for both adults and
children. Our mission is to place fully trained
guide dogs of excellent health and temperament with
Wisconsin and contiguous state residents (adults and
children) who have visual impairments at no charge.
Our
guide dog mobility and Children's Visual Companion Dog
custom
training sessions take place in the comfort of the
client's home environment as opposed to a guide dog
academy. We do this because we
believe that legitimate, personal circumstances (family
obligations, professional commitments or secondary
health conditions) should not prevent an otherwise
capable individual with a qualifying visual impairment
from enjoying the companionship and assistance a canine
guide can offer. Each completely trained dog and person is carefully
matched according to such traits as lifestyle,
personality, activity level, and walking speed.
In
addition to harness work and obedience commands, our
Licensed and Certified Guide Dog Trainer teaches each client about the learning
style of their particular guide dog, about various
aspects of canine behavior, and about the innate
characteristics of their guide dog's breed. By the
end of each custom in-home placement, the client will have
learned how to teach their guide dog new skills, and how
to work with and care for their canine visual partner
throughout the entirety of its career.
Our
hope is that our size and innovative training
practices will allow us to provide an extremely
supportive and highly customized experience to each of
our canine-person teams. Please help us by becoming a
volunteer puppy raiser, donating to OccuPaws to help us
place guide dogs or children's visual companion dogs or
becoming a volunteer at one of our fund raising events
to provide this unique visual aid to our visually
impaired community.
Give a
Gift
Candidate of
Assistance Dogs International
(ADI)
