Investing in the Future

Over the years, we have grown tremendously. What started in 1993 with a small group of volunteers has grown to a large network of staff and volunteers working together to raise and train service dogs for people with disabilities. Now we are looking toward the future and developing a plan to continue growing and improving our program so we can change even more lives with the assistance of our dogs.

As many of you know, we have a breeding program here at SSD (please see our post Why Do We Breed Service Dogs? for our reasoning behind this choice). Recently, we hired breeding consultant Marina Hall Phillips to help us evaluate our breeding program and examine other areas of our entire program so we can make sure we’re doing the best we can to provide successful service dogs for men, women, and children with disabilities. Marina has worked with Canine Companions for Independence and Guide Dogs for the Blind, and she has many years of experience with service dog breeding programs. We have every confidence that she’ll help us make successful changes!

Last night, a group of our volunteers met with Marina to discuss their volunteer experiences with SSD and the breeding program, as well as our program’s overall strengths and weaknesses. In true SSD fashion, we followed this discussion with a potluck dinner. While our volunteers were talking with Marina, our staff made sure all the food was cooked or heated.

From the honest discussion our volunteers had with Marina, we hope to improve not only our breeding program, but our entire program.

We have a small staff, so we rely on our volunteers to do a lot. When we tell our volunteers that we couldn’t do it without them, we truly mean it! Our volunteers raise puppies, help us train our advanced training dogs in public, whelp litters, care for our breeding dogs, puppy sit, do therapy visits with children with autism, give demonstrations, do home visits for potential partners and puppy raisers, help with Meet the Dogs and Team Training—the list goes on and on.

As we develop our plan for the future, we imagine that many of the improvements will result in an improved volunteer experience. All improvements mean that we will be able to provide higher quality service dogs that are well-suited to working with their partners. And that means that means that more lives will be changed.

If you’re interested in joining Susquehanna Service Dogs as a volunteer, please apply online. We would love to have you join us!

What a Weekend at PawsAbilities!

What a weekend! Did you have as much fun at PawsAbilities as we did?

On Saturday and Sunday, the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex was full of dogs playing, barking and greeting each other.

Dogs had fun playing our new Dog Olympic Game, the Temptation Tower! Handlers tried to build the tallest tower of dog biscuits while their dog watched.


The Ultimate Air Dogs were a favorite among people and canines. Watch one dog leap right off the dock into the pool to retrieve a favorite toy!



Other dogs weren't quite sure they wanted to make the big leap, even if their favorite toy was in the water. You could almost see one dog's thoughts as he runs around the dock trying to decide if he's going to make the jump. What did he finally decide? Watch the video to find out!

Dogs had lots of fun leaping over hay bales, sitting in hula hoops and running through tunnels in the new Obstacle Gambler's Choice game. Big thank you to Dog Scout Troop 161 for running it!

You should have seen the costumes on some of these dogs for our Costume Contest! They were great!


What was your favorite part of PawsAbilities? Let us know in the comments.

And don't forget to check out our Facebook page! People have been sharing their favorite photos of their dogs at PawsAbilities. We love them! If you have a favorite photo of your dog at PawsAbilities, post it on our Facebook page so everyone can see it!

Thank you to all the people and dogs who attended! We hope you had a great time!

Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers for helping us set up, run the big event, and tear down afterwards. We couldn't do it without you.

And of course, a special thank you to Vikki, our events coordinator, and the PawsAbilities committee for making PawsAbilities a reality. We certainly appreciate all of your hard work!

We're looking forward to next year!

Why do we breed service dogs?

SSD Midge is pregnant, and tonight, we find out if SSD Pearl is also going to have puppies. In approximately one month, we could have two litters of puppies!

Both Midge and Pearl were bred to specially selected males, and we're hoping for two litters of healthy puppies with the right temperament to become service dogs. One of our fans asked a great question about breeding dogs on our Facebook page. She said, "I love what you're doing to help people with physical challenges, but why aren't you adopting and training dogs from shelters when there are millions of dogs euthanized each year?"

This is a great question and an important one. Thank you for asking!

We believe that dogs should never have to end up in shelters. When we first started training dogs to be service dogs, we went to humane societies and Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever rescue groups to find dogs to adopt and train. However, it was very challenging to find dogs who would be appropriate for service dog work. Many of the dogs who would be suited to service dog work are the ones who would be instantly adopted. We usually use labs because they tend to love people, they enjoy working, they're easy to care for, and they have soft mouths, meaning they can retrieve and hold objects without damaging them. However, labs tend to be quickly adopted from humane societies and shelters.

When we did find dogs to adopt and train, most of them didn't make it through our program. We had to discharge most of the dogs because they had health and temperament issues. Many of the dogs developed hip or elbow dysplasia, which can cause early arthiritis. The dogs would not be able to work for very long, they may need medications, and ultimately they would not be able to meet their partner's needs. We cannot in good conscience place a dog with a person when we know that dog will only be able to work for a few years before retiring and needing expensive medication that their partner may not be able to afford. When we place a service dog with a partner, our goal is to enrich that person's life with a dog that can assist them to become more independent. All of our dogs must pass health exams showing that they have good eyes and bone structure.

Besides being healthy, service dogs must have a good temperament. We look for dogs that are calm, have the ability to focus despite distractions, have self control and can easily adapt to different environments and situations. Dogs that are too timid or excitable may not be suited to service dog work. For example, a dog that is easily frightened in new environments may freeze in place instead of retrieving their partner's keys that were dropped in the mall parking lot. A dog that is too excitable may dash after a squirrel rather than staying right next to his partner to help them balance as they walk. In this particular example, the excitable dog may actually unintentionally harm his partner.

We also think about the dogs themselves. It wouldn't be fair to try to turn timid or excitable dogs into service dogs. Because of their temperaments, they wouldn't be suited to service dog work, and they would be constantly stressed out. We look for dogs that can easily relax in almost any situation. We always think about what would be best for both the people and the dogs.

Since we began breeding labs to become service dogs, we have had a 70-80% success rate. We know the health histories of the dogs, and most of our dogs have a temperament that makes them well-suited to service dog work. We feel confident that when we place a dog with a person, that dog will be able to meet that person's needs and assist them to be more independent for many years.

We feel very strongly about not adding to the dogs who are already unfortunately in shelters and humane societies. If we do need to discharge a dog, we always find a loving home for him. Always. And once a dog has been placed with a person, we will always take the dog back if that person needs to return him for whatever reason. Dogs that come back to us may be re-trained for another person, depending on how old they are, or they may retire and become beloved pets.

Thank you so much for your question!

Team Training at the Colonial Park Mall

Today was the ninth day of Team Training. Three more days of training and then our new service dog teams take the public access test!

We went to the Colonial Park Mall so the teams could practice out in public. Each team worked on loose leash walking, basic obedience, greetings (having someone pet the and using the elevator (getting on and off the elevator so both the service dog and partner are safe), as well as any specially trained skills.

Everyone did a great job! We can definitely see the partners and dogs bonding!

Watch a video of the teams at the mall.

Join Us for the Walk!

Tomorrow is the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community! We'll be there with our dogs. Will you join us?

If you haven't registered for the Walk yet, don't worry! You can register at our booth on Saturday morning. We'd love to see you there!

Registration starts at 7:45 a.m. on City Island in Harrisburg, PA. The Walk starts at 9 a.m.

And don't forget to do a little fundraising! For every $50 you raise, you will get a raffle ticket. Highmark Blue Shield is raffling off some great prizes this year! Submit your tickets to be entered to win a prize such as a Kodak digital camera, digital photo frame, Tom Tom GSP system, digital camcorder, and more!

Stick around after the Walk and join us for lunch! We'll be having a picnic with lots of great food! We always have a lot of fun, and we hope you can make it!

If you can't make the Walk, you can still support SSD by making a donation.

Thank you for all of your support!

And the winners are...

The votes are in, and you've chosen a winner of our Dogs Change Lives contest. Congratulations to Michele and Grizzly, the winners of the Audience Choice Award!

Grizzly is a companion dog for Michele's son Collin, who was diagnosed with autism at age four. Since Grizzly has joined their lives, they have seen so many positive changes in Collin's life. Read the full story about Grizzly.

Our judges have been reading all of the stories and they have selected a winner of the Life-Changer Award. This award goes to the most compelling story of the impact a dog has made in a person's life. Congratulations to Dana and Lex! Read the story about Lex, the Newfoundland that changed Dana's life.

We would also like to congratulate our ten runners up. Each of these incredible stories received a Susquehanna Service Dog stuffed toy. Read these stories.

Congratulations to all of our winners! And thank you to everyone who submitted stories and voted! All of your stories are wonderful tributes to the amazing way dogs change our lives.

Visiting the Eye Clinic

Once a year, we take all of our breeding dogs to the eye clinic to have their eyes examined. We always to go to a visiting eye clinic to see Dr. Riis, a veterinary ophthalmologist who is extremely knowledgeable and understands assistance dogs. It's very important that service dogs be in top physical condition, including their eyes, and Dr. Riis is able to tell us whether any eye conditions will affect the dogs' careers as working dogs.

This year, we took our breeding dogs as well as our new puppies and a few of the dogs-in-training that needed to be rechecked. SSD Pearl, Midge, Dixie, Fire, Rio, Aspen, Rusty, Onyx, Slate, Shamrock and Cabo had their eyes checked.

When the dogs first arrived at the eye clinic, which was held at the Dauphin Dog Training Club over PawsAbilities weekend, they had their eyes dilated. Dr. Riis then examined each dog.

If an eye condition is discovered, we ask several important questions. First, we want to know how it will affect the dog's health. How will the condition affect the dog's ability to work as a service dog? How will the eye condition affect the dog's partner once they're matched? (Meaning, will the dog's eye condition worsen at some point in the future, requiring the partner to bring the dog in for additional veterinary care or even causing the dog's early retirement?) Finally, if the dog is a breeding dog, we ask if the dog can be bred without passing on any eye conditions.
Our goal is to make sure all of our breeding dogs and potential service dogs are healthy. When we place service dogs with partners, our hope is that the dogs will be able to work with their partner for 8-10 years.


We have good news! All of our dogs passed their exam!

Thank you so much to Dr. Riis and everyone who helped at the eye clinic!

PawsAbilities!

What a weekend! We had so much fun at PawsAbilities, and we hope you did, too!

All the fun started at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA. Our canine and human guests shopped at the many vendors, who were selling colorful bandanas, leashes, collars, pet photos, all sorts of delicious dog treats and food, dog toys - everything you can imagine for your dog.

Dogs and their handlers played the Dog Olympic Games, where they squeezed under the limbo stick, played musical hoops, and tested their ability to clean their plate. Watch a video of some of our Olympic Games.

For the first time, we held the Cutest Dog Contest, and there were so many cute dogs, it was tough to pick the cutest! This little guy was just one of the many entrants in the contest.


Here are a few videos of the fun demonstrations you could watch at PawsAbilities:

The Appalachian Air Canines caught more frisbees than we could count!



The Ultimate Air Dogs made a huge splash as they leaped off the dock!



K9 Loki and her handler, Detective Dennis Woodring, made another appearance. Loki is an accelerant detection dog, trained to detect accelerants such as gasoline and kerosene, among others. When she smells an accelerant, she lets Detective Woodring know by sitting.



Once again, we held our Great Biscuit Bite-Off! Our service dogs and service dogs-in-training judged homemade dog treats. SSD Devon, Cinderella, Caspian, Slate and Graham Cracker judged the finalists. Watch the video.

Here are this year's winners of the Bite-Off:

1st: Heather Heimbach, Gourmet Chocolate Treats
2nd: Joe Goetz of Wag-n-Tail Treats, Turkey and Cranberry Roll Ups
3rd: Hannah Byorick - Biscuit Bites
4th: Jennifer Dunkleberger, Pumpkin Face Biscuits
5th: Nic Olson, Squirrelly Doodles
6th: Susan Tyson, Trout's Favorite Biscuits

Congratulations to the winners!

At the end of each day, we held the Abrams & Weakley Parade! All dogs, large and small, paraded around the Main Hall. What a great way to end the day! Watch the video.

These are just a few of the fun things to do at PawsAbilities. We hope you'll join us next year for even more fun!

Tomorrow Is PawsAbilities!

PawsAbilities weekend starts tomorrow! Are you as excited as we are?

The fun begins at 8 a.m. and by 9 a.m., canine Olympians are already competing in the Dog Olympics! Just come to the Olympic Registration table to sign your dog up to play.


There will be lots of fun and interesting demonstrations throughout the weekend. We will be doing demos on clicker training and service dogs. You'll also be able to see the accelerant detection dog Loki, a hunting retriever demo by the Northern Piedmont Retriever Club, and the canine freestyle of the Steppin' Woofs! The bloodhounds of Summit Search and Rescue will demonstrate their tracking abilities and Appalachian Air Canines will catch more frisbees than you can count! And don't forget about the Ultimate Air Dogs! They'll be making a splash at PawsAbilities.

Participate in the Cutest Dog Contest, the costume contest and the Abrams & Weakley Parade! Check out the vendors in the Canine Marketplace.

And most of all, come and have fun with your dog!

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children, and they're good for the entire weekend. We hope to see you there!

PawsAbilities 2010 at the PA Farm Show Complex
2300 North Cameron Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110

Directions and more are available on www.pawsabilities.net.

Nubble Is One Active Puppy!

Nubble is one active puppy! Last week, Donna took him out for a run, and he did some awesome loose leash running! Even though he's capable of running faster than Donna, he chose not to and stayed by her side. While they were out, a school bus passed them, but Nubble just sat and watched it. He slept most of the way home, but still had plenty of energy left to play with Gizzy!

This past weekend, Donna and Lindsey took Nubble and Gizzy for a walk on a wooded path. This time, though, Nubble wasn't interested in loose leash walking. All he wanted to do was pull ahead, straining the leash. He didn't even care about treats. Finally, Lindsey ran with him for a bit, and after he burned off some energy, he settled down. Lindsey ran with him periodically throughout their walk to keep him focused. He was able to greet two other dogs very nicely. He also encountered a young boy, whom he just wanted to play with, and a few bicycles. Before the second bicycle passed, Donna had Nubble sit and watch, and he was fairly calm, considering hos excited he was on this walk.

Nubble finds geese fascinating. When he sees them, he just stares and follows them with his eyes. They don't seem to bother him at all.


At the end of their walk in the woods, Donna and Lindsey let the dogs get a drink from the slow-moving creek. Gizzy loves doing this, but it was Nubble's first time. He was on the flexi-leash, which is a good thing because he started romping around in the water, and pretty soon, he was swimming! He must have been a little surprised that he could swim because once he got out, he patted the water before he'd walk back in.

Of course, after all that swimming, Nubble looked like a chocolate lab. Donna keeps a crate in her car for situations like this, so Nubble didn't get the car all dirty. As soon as they got home, it was bath time for him. Nubble was on his best behavior for his bath. He just stood in the tub and let Donna and Lindsey wash him. By the time they were done, he was dozing in Donna's arms. Like most dogs, though, he waited until he was out of the tub and right next to people before he shook off. Donna learned very early to shut the bathroom door so the spray is contained in one room, at least.

After all that excitement, Nubble settled into a nice nap.


Donna and Lindsey have been working on under, heel, off and leave it. Always, they try to reinforce good behaviors. This is one of the reasons why our puppy raisers are such an important part of our puppies' lives. They teach the dogs good manners and self control very early in life, which means the dogs will have a much greater chance of success when they enter advanced training.

Despite the fact that Nubble occasionally steals a stick of butter off the counter and sometimes tries to pick up dead mice, Donna and Lindsey love having him. "I enjoy the time I get to spend with both dogs. I just wish there was more time in the day," says Donna. "I'm looking forward to spring and warm weather with the dogs."

New Puppy Raiser Orientation

Last week we held an orientation for our new puppy raisers. Although we don't have any puppies right now, we're hoping to have some soon, and when that happens, we'll need lots of people to raise them!

Our puppy raisers are very important volunteers. They volunteer to welcome an 8-week-old puppy into their home and raise it for the next 18 months, preparing it to enter advanced training. Puppy raisers are responsible for house-training, teaching the puppy good manners, self control, and cues, taking the puppy to all sorts of new places and attending puppy classes and outings.

We are with you every step of the way. Each new puppy raiser is paired with a mentor - a veteran SSD puppy raiser - who will be available to answer questions and share tips and advice. SSD staff are always willing to answer questions and give private lessons. We want you and the puppy to have the best experience together.

If you're interested in being a puppy raiser, visit our website. We would love to have you join our SSD team!

One Week Till PawsAbilities!

PawsAbilities weekend is next week (March 13-14)! Have you bought your tickets yet? Monday, March 8 is the last day to buy tickets online, but you will be able to buy tickets at the door.

What can you do at PawsAbilities? You'll have so many choices! Visit www.pawsabilities.net to learn about everything there is to do all weekend.


Each day at 3 p.m., you can join the Abrams & Weakley Parade! You and your dog can strut your stuff around the Main Hall. We'll be awarding blue ribbons in 20 different categories:

• Best prancer
• Biggest ears
• Bounciest
• Drool
• Most elegant
• Most handsome
• Happiest
• Most Irish
• Longest fur
• Longest tail
• Most attentive
• Mother love
• Most patriotic
• Portilest
• Saddest
• Shortest
• Shortest fur
• Shortest tail
• Spots
• Tallest

Just sign up at the Abrams & Weakley booth. It's FREE to join the parade!

Next week, look for more posts about all the fun things you can do at PawsAbilities! We hope to see you there!

SSD Team Training at the Whitaker Center

Team Training ended yesterday, and we have great news! All of the teams who have gone through training these past two and a half weeks have passed their public access test! They are now officially service dog teams.

On Tuesday, SSD Gnat, Lil, Natalie and their partners went to the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, PA. With all of the interactive science exhibits and children running around, it was a fun but challenging outing.

When the partners and their dogs first entered the exhibit, many of the children wanted to pet the dogs. What a great opportunity to practice greetings! By giving lots of treats, each partner kept their dog focused on them while the kids crowded around.

SSD Natalie practiced search.



Natalie is specially trained to find her young partner if he wanders off. She follows the cone of scent, zig-zagging until she finds the strongest trail, and then she follows it. 'It's like fishing," says her partner's father. "You can feel it through the leash when she has the trail." Right now, she's following the scent of vanilla, which we use in training, but that scent will gradually be tapered off and replaced by her partner's scent.

Natalie wears a special harness with a handle that her young partner holds on to. If he starts to wander while he's still holding the handle, Natalie will brace and pull him back.

SSD Lil practiced under.



At the cue from her partner, she goes under the bench, where she lays down out of everyone's way.

As each person went through the exhibits, the dogs gained many new experiences. In the Carnival of Health exhibit, Lil and Gnat got a surprise when their partners played the Icky the Clown game (similar to Whac-A-Mole). The dogs were laying nicely beneath the clown's nose while their partners played. At the end of the game, the clown sneezed and sprayed the dogs with goo! Lil didn't seem to have a problem with it, but Gnat didn't like it too much. He recovered quickly, though, after his partner wiped him off.

Later, Gnat practiced pulling his partner, who uses a wheelchair, and they glided across the floor effortlessly.

It was a wonderful outing, and we had a lot of fun!

We're so glad that all of the partners and their service dogs are now official working service dog teams! "I'm so happy," says SSD Gnat's partner. "Having a service dog is the best thing that ever happened to me. It's like having my life back."

Dogs Change Lives Contest Extended to March 14!

We love reading your stories about how your dog has changed your life! We've gone through a few boxes of tissues while reading some of them, but every single story has made us smile.

In fact, we're extending the submission deadline to March 14. Voting will still start on March 1, but you'll be able to continue submitting stories until the end of the day on March 14.

So far, we've read some extraordinary stories. We've read about Largo, a Rottweiler that saved her partner's life by alerting her to a seizure. Ripple, who stuck by her owner through some tough times. Mr. B, whose love helped to heal his owner. Bleu, the dog whose presence helped a young girl sleep calmly through the night. Duke, who guided his family through a blinding snowstorm. And Woozy, a dog that gave a young man new purpose in life.

These are just a few of the stories we've read. Every story on Dogs Change Lives is extraordinary, and it's amazing how dogs can touch our lives in large and small ways. Please visit Dogs Change Lives and read these heart-warming stories!

Keep submitting your stories about your dogs, and don't forget that voting starts on March 1!

Team Training

Team Training is one of our favorite times of the year. It’s the time when people who have been matched with a dog through our Meet the Dogs sessions finally get to start training with their new service dog.

It’s a lot of work for our trainers, it’s a lot of work for the partners, and it’s a lot of work for the dogs. But every little bit of it is worth it. By the end of Team Training, each person and their service dog will be a closely bonded team, and as they continue working together in the next days, months and years, that bond will grow even stronger.

Team Training began on Monday for 6 people who have been matched with dogs. After a morning of learning clicker training and the difference between commands and cues, each person finally got reintroduced to their service dog.

When we first brought out the dogs, each person got time to simply bond with their dog, giving them lots of free treats, meaning the dogs got treats just for being themselves. Once the partners and dogs had a chance to get reacquainted, we started working on some basic cues – come, down, sit, and let’s go with loose leash walking. We took some photos and videos of partners practicing the cues with their dogs.

SSD Natalie and her partner had a joyful reunion.

SSD Sonora (yellow lab) and Lil (black lab) do great recalls for their partners.

SSD Cori and Gnat practice loose leash walking.

SSD Lil and her partner demonstrate pivot. Notice how Lil's back legs move so she's always right by her partner's side.

SSD Mite, an in-home service dog, gets acquainted with one member of his new family.

It’s a learning experience for both the people and the dogs. They need to learn each other’s language and learn how to work together. Throughout the rest of the two weeks of training, partners and their service dogs will work on new cues and behaviors. Next week, they will go on several public outings to practice their teamwork in a public place.

At the end of Team Training, each pair will be ready to begin their new life together.

Team Training is a life-changing experience, for us, the partners, and the dogs. You can read more about SSD and what we do here on our blog. You can also go to Dogs Change Lives and read stories about dogs changing lives that have been submitted by people like you.

SSD Snow Dogs!

The snow we're getting in Harrisburg might be keeping many of us stuck inside, but the dogs at the kennel love playing in it!

Snow on the kennel runs from the first snow storm over the weekend. We had to clean out all the runs.



We have a fenced-in run in the woods at the kennel, and we let the dogs play in the snow.





We brought some toys out for the dogs to play with in the snow, and they got really excited.



We hope you and your dogs have fun in the snow, too!

SSD Nubble Visits High School

A little over a week ago, Nubble went to high school with his puppy raiser, Lindsey. She was giving a presentation on dog training in her English class, and Nubble provided an excellent visual. He was very well behaved, doing everything Lindsey asked him to do, including rolling over on cue! When he wasn’t demonstrating his skills, he sat nicely at Lindsey’s feet and at one point stretched onto his back and played with his leash.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Lindsey and Nubble waited a few minutes for the halls to clear before leaving. This is a great example of setting the dog up for success. When dogs are in training, especially early in their training, crowded places can be very challenging. Lindsey and Nubble practiced walking the school hallways when they weren’t as crowded, so Nubble had the chance to get used to the environment and successfully give behaviors. Nubble seemed to take walking in the hallways and sitting in the classroom in stride. Soon, he’ll be going to school for longer periods of time.

The next day, he visited a horse farm for Lindsey’s riding lesson and met four new dogs – a Great Dane, two labs and a little Jack Russell. He had a great time playing with them. So far, he seems to get along with all types of dogs. While at the horse farm, he had another new experience – he saw a creek for the first time! He seemed enthralled by the moving water. All in all, it was a busy day for Nubble, and he was asleep almost as soon as he got in the car.

Nubble has been doing very well with leave it and recalls. He loves when Donna and Lindsey throw a toy for him. He runs to retrieve it and drops it at their feet. (Although, sometimes he’ll take it to their dog Gizzy instead.) Recently, Lindsey was running outside with him and she dropped the clicker. Nubble stopped, picked it up, and brought it to her, dropping it at her feet!

He is certainly a character! One day, Donna was walking Gizzy and Nubble. Gizzy was on a long Flexi-leash, while Nubble was on a short nylon leash. By accident, Donna dropped Gizzy’s leash, and before she could pick it up, Nubble picked it up and ran with it! There they were, Donna holding Nubble’s leash and Nubble holding Gizzy’s leash!

Donna and Lindsey are having a great time raising Nubble. Lindsey is training him as part of her senior project for school. "It's teaching me lots of patience. I've never had a puppy this young before. I've learned that it's a lot of work, but it is well worth missing a little sleep!"

Enter Our Dogs Change Lives Contest!

Our Dogs Change Lives contest is live! Share your story about how a dog has changed your life or the life of someone you know, and you could win $1,000!

These can be stories about service dogs, fire or police dogs, or even a family pet. All dogs have the ability to change someone's life.

You'll be able to submit your true story throughout February. Starting in March, you'll be able to vote for your favorite story. The story with the most votes will win $1,000!

Visit www.dogschangelives.org to submit your story.

(Note: Please protect your privacy in these stories. If you want to use people's names, please use first names only, especially if they're a minor. You may also change names within the story to protect privacy.)

Contest Rules

Who can submit a story?
Anyone can submit a story, but you must be at least 18 years of age and an American citizen to be eligible to win a prize.

How do you win?
Audience Choice Award
The story with the most votes by midnight on March 28 EDT will receive the $1,000 Audience Choice Award. You'll be able to vote once a day for your favorite story from March 1 through 28.

Life-Changer Award
The entry with the most compelling story about a dog's impact on a person's life will receive the $500 Life-Changer Award. A panel of expert judges will determine the winner.

We will announce the winners on March 29.

Visit www.dogschangelives.org for the complete rules and to submit your story.

Spread the word! We can't wait to read your stories!

A New Look Is Coming Soon!

Sometime this week, you're in for a surprise! We're changing the look of our blog. We really like the new design, and we hope you'll like it, too.

So, if you click on our blog and it looks completely different, don't go away! It's still us.

We have a lot of exciting things happening this week and next week, so visit us again soon!

Lots of PawsAbilities, Coming Right Up!

It's that time of year again! Mark your calendar and buy your tickets for PawsAbilities 2010!

On Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14, bring your dog and join us at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA for two fun-filled days of PawsAbilities! This is a festival for people and dogs of all ages, and there will be lots to do.

Here is just a snippet of the many things you and your dog can do at PawsAbilities 2010:

Frozen Woofys Dog Olympic Games - compete in events like Doggy Limbo, Marathon Down, and Puppy at Heart Relay.

Abrams & Weakley Parade - strut your stuff in this parade around the PawsAbilities floor!

Great Biscuit Bite-Off - bake your dog's favorite treats and compete against other bakers.

Canine Marketplace - shop at the many vendor booths.

Visit http://www.pawsabilities.net/ for more information about these and other events at PawsAbilities 2010.

Tickets cost $8 for adults, $4 for children in advance or $10 for adults, $5 for children at the door. Click here to buy your PawsAbilities tickets.

We hope you'll come out and support SSD for this weekend of PawsAbilities!