I was approached by Julie Thorington, who is in charge of the puppy program at Paws with a Cause asking if I would be able to donate any puppies. Paws trains Labradors as service dogs to assist physically handicapped people. Puppies are raised in foster homes until they go back to Paws for their serious training. There are field representatives who work with the foster parents and also with the final recipients after the dog is placed. Puppy donations are fully tax deductable and Paws is happy to facilitate communication between the recipient and the breeder if the breeder requests it and the recipient is willing. A service dog has a great life, going everywhere with its person, who treasures it because it not only allows the person to be less reliant on other people, but it serves as a facilitator for contact with others that often is hard for a handicapped person to attain. Puppies that are rejected for whatever reason will be offered back to the breeder and often end up returning to their foster family if the breeder doesn't want them.

Paws has had a series of small litters in their own breeding program and needs puppies. Unfortunately, my planned breeding is being delayed by the mother-to-be's failure to come into season. If anyone has an unplaced pup with the usual clearances on hips, elbows, and eyes on parents, here is your chance to do a good deed that could give you a tax deduction and some bragging rights. Last I knew, Paws was accepting puppies between 8 and 12 weeks of age, but they might be taking older pups in this situation. Contact is Julie Thorington at JThorington@pawswithacause.org Paws has a website with URL www.pawswithacause.org.

2 years ago I had a male from OFA excellent parents, whose whole pedigree was OFA good or excellent and CERF normal. He had an outstanding field pedigree full of field titles. He had a calm English type disposition with fabulous retreive desire. He was raised by an awesome family who had taken him all over and socialized him well and had his obedience down well for 9 month old. Family returned him to me after consulting 2 allergists due to children's allergies. I contacted local Paws and sent an e-mail to national Paws to rehome him. They did not want him. I have produced a service pup - privately trained by special needs child's family and a Red Cross pup, yet Paws did not want my boy from the same parents as the successful service dogs. I no longer sympathize with Paws when they beg for pups.

A couple of years ago I offered Paws with a Cause a pup from the same breeding that produced 2 successful service dogs.
They never bothered to even reply!
Would much prefer to find a local organization to donate a pup to.

I make every effort to donate at least one puppy per litter, good karma and all of that.

Last time I contacted Paws they refused my litter.

At the same time I hear of them using dogs without clearances (or worse yet, failing clearances)for stud services.

They can't be too bad off.

My experience has been different. Paws has taken every 8 week old pup I've offered them. These are out of conformation stock with clearances and working credentials. I do know that for puppies they are constrained by the availability of foster homes, and your litter might have along at a time when they had no foster homes waiting for puppies. I see their situation as similar to the person who breeds one litter every year or two. Timing is sometimes against you- no buyers available when you have a litter and many requests when you don't- only for Paws it would be foster homes and donated puppies. As for claims that they breed to dogs without clearances, I have no personal knowledge of that and would want solid evidence before I believe it.

They did stop taking older puppies or adult dogs a number of years ago for reasons I don't know. When I became aware of this policy I wondered about it because it seemed counterproductive to refuse a dog that was ready to enter serious training sooner than an 8-week old would be. I assumed that older dogs must have had a poor record of success in their program. The only older dog I donated (returned at 18 months because the owner remarried and the new wife didn't want the dog) went on to be placed locally and served as one of their demonstration dogs, so he certainly worked out well.

My only connection with Paws has been occasional donation of puppies plus several visits to their headquarters to deliver puppies to them.

That's just it Peggy, I offered the puppy 2 months before the litter was even bred. From CH parents, each with at least a CD, JH (the sire had his SH and CDX)clearances up the ying yang.

I stopped donating females years ago. I had heard stories and they confirmed of breeding their girls at 18 months and them having at least 5 litters if possible. Thats more than my comfort level allows, good deed or not.

There are more organizations around then them who are happy to take puppies, older and younger.

I agree...watch these organizations. I just had a "run in" with one....and I don't think I will ever entertain donating a dog again until they can prove to me that the dog is well taken care of, and not bred in a way I would not approve. After meeting the folks, I decided to NOT donate a pup. Things they said, made me nervous. Plus I found a lot they would NOT tell me. Unfortunate.

I gave a dog to a service organization that I later took out of their care. I gave them a sweet well trained beautiful boy. When I took him back he was a basket case, had loose stool for two months, warts, he was skinny and had a horrid coat...he was a mess. Never again.....

I am extremely pleased to state that I donated a super black male to the FUNDACION ONCE DE PERROS GUIA (The guide dog foundation here in Spain) and I couldnt be more pleased with what and how they are doing with this pup!

This was an extremely well respected organization. I was horrified at the lack of adequate veterinary care. My dog was misdiagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition. I picked him up and he was just a mess, including being infected by contagious warts. I had him reevaluated by a cardiologist as well as his litter mates and they were all normal. He came from cleared parents as well. I sent them all the information and never heard from them again until almost a year had passed. Then I got a call asking me where he was, they had no idea. Nice that they keep track of all their animals. They had the audacity to ask if I had used him for breeding, my dog mind you, since they never bothered to send in the change of ownership as I requested, or change his microchip information. I think some of these type organizations are just in the business of churning out dogs and looking for donations. This organization certainly did not care for my dog in any way. My point is... I heard wonderful things about this program too. They are not always what they seem.

All but two of the dogs I donated to Paws were males, mostly because I almost always have all my females placed before birth and, if I have extra pups, they are males. Both females I placed with them were spayed by Paws. The latest female I donated was placed with a young lady who sent me a photo with her and her dog. The dog had a funny hat on because they were celebrating a birthday, and she was part of the party. Her owner was very happy with her, and she was one of the family. The other female tore a cruciate and went back to her foster family. She also came to a party I had for my puppy buyers. She sent me a Christmas card every year until she died at age 14. One of my donated dogs, in service as a seizure detection dog, also came to that party. He was obviously treasured, too and was well maintained. He lived to be 12 or 13. I do check up on the puppies I donate, and Paws has an ongoing program of supervision. I have been in their kennel facilities, and they are very nice. Some of the owners do not want to have contact with the breeder, and if that's the case, Paws will not give out names or contact information, as the privacy of their clients is paramount. Contact with the breeder must be initiated by the dog's owner. I believe that's a legal issue. So if that is a critical point for you, then don't donate.

To Whatever-I don't know why Paws didn't want your puppy. They do check pedigrees, and maybe there was something there they didn't want. But I think it is more likely that they just didn't have enough foster homes at the time and/or had a number of litters of their own coming along. I know there was one time they were not sure whether they wanted to take one of my pups for that reason. They eventually did take the pup, as they found a foster home for it. Also, location is important. I have had to drive donated puppies to their headquarters because they had no way to pick them up closer to my home.

I was fortunate enough to have a rescue boy come into my life 4 years ago. He was used as a service dog until the age of 13, when he was dumped in a shelter to be euthanized. When the service dog organzation was told, they couldn't have cared less what happened to this boy, and in fact gave this family another seeing eye dog.

Ricky's story ended up happy (and if you'd like, you can read it at www.waterdownlabradors.com/ricky.htm) but please be very, very careful who gets your babies. This was a fairly well known organization in the US.

While I respect the intent for which these dogs are supposed to be used, I am very conflicted with the reality of what actually happens.

I have deeply considered donating for years, however, I have declined to do so. I recently was approached by an organization about a one year old girl I was placing and again declined. She went to great pet home where she will be a family member, not a piece of equipment.

Like I said, I love the idea of these wonderful animals having a purpose in life. It's heartwarming.
But I have too many times, witnessed in public, service dogs in poor condition, obviously unhappy and in certain cases, being abused by their owners.

I have seen mentally challenged people yanking on, yelling at and kicking, yes kicking their service animals. I have seen unpleasant but completely cognitive people treating their dogs like machines and I looked into the dogs eyes and seen nothing, no spark, just a robot.

I do not want any of my babies potentially ending up like that so I don't donate.
I know thats not the case all the time, maybe not even the majority, but even one is too much for me.

I've donated 2 pups to Paws With A Cause. The first one was raised by a local family who kept in touch with me. It was a wonderful experience. The second pup I donated was puppy raised by Paw's local representative - the first one did so well she wanted to puppy raise the next puppy we donated. I saw the pup when he was 5 months old. The local rep/puppy raiser was feeding him 2 cups of food a day (including treats!!). He looked emaciated!! When I told her, she said her vet thought he looked fine. I spoke to my vet and he had a fit and said a growing pup needed more nutrition and could have long term ortho problems because of lack of nutrition. I called Julie Thorington and she was totally unresponsive. (Because of how well the first pup did, she had been asking us for a female to put into their beeding program) We told Julie we would not donate another puppy unless they got rid of the local rep. Finally, the local rep decided she didn't have the time to puppy raise and we got him moved to the first family and they managed to get some weight on him. He weighed 25 lbs at 5 months!! He did go on to be a seizure dog but he remained undersized. The local rep has since left Paws but I would think long and hard about donating another puppy.

Leslie thank you for sharing Ricky's story, I have tears in my eyes! Thank goodness he was placed with you, and knew a good life for a little while.

To NY BREEDER - If you had no eyes, would you still call your eyes a piece of equipment? I seriously doubt it!

Thank goodness for rescue for taking him :) He was a lovely boy and we were pleased to have him.