Puppies with Purpose is an organization in Columbia, Missouri that allows college students and community members to raise puppies to become service dogs. We work in conjunction with our parent organization, Canine Helpers Allow More Possibilities (CHAMP) Assistance Dogs. After our volunteers work to socialize puppies and prepare them for the rigorous process of becoming service dogs, CHAMP trains
them to aid people with a variety of cognitive and physical disabilities. One of our primary missions is to do our part in offsetting the drastic shortage of service dogs throughout the country. Disabled persons who would benefit from a service dog must wait for what can often be years to obtain one – additionally, service dogs can cost as much as $23,000. The beauty of sending our puppies to CHAMP is that the organization is one of the few that doesn’t charge people for their dogs, will give service dogs to children and goes through an extensive process to make sure they find perfect matches for the animals they train. Under the guidance of our program coordinator, an experienced veterinarian, student puppy raisers and puppy sitters socialize our puppies and work to expose them to a wide variety of people, noises and situations. This readies them for the things they might encounter as service dogs at a young age, which is preferable. After an initial phase of this type of training, eligible puppies will be accepted into CHAMP, whose training takes place at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correction Center in Vandalia, Missouri. This has the added benefit of helping the prison’s inmates give back to the community. After completion of basic training at the prison, which takes anywhere from six to eight weeks, the puppies may be returned to our organization’s puppy raisers for 10 more weeks of socialization. This rotation continues for 18 to 24 months, when the dog is trained and ready to be placed in his or her final service position.
