GREAT PLAINS ASSISTANCE DOGS FOUNDATION
920 Short Street, Jud, ND 584540513 www.servicedogsforamerica.org

---

Organizations Filed Purposes: To train and certify service dogs for individuals with disabilities.

Great Plains Assistance Dogs Foundation dba Service Dogs for America is a fully accredited (by Assistance Dogs International) service dog training program. SDA proudly offers their services as a BEST PRACTICES organization.Due to the SARS-COV2 pandemic, our program experienced significant decline as we could not place dogs with individuals with disabilities, during that time. From March 2020 through present, all of our placements were stopped as we could not encourage travel for our clients who have high-risk health concerns. All of our clients have disabilities, making it difficult to impossible to travel for team training. All of our prison programs closed causing another hardship for the organization. We also experienced significant difficulty with staffing during this time. For fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 Service Dogs for America continued successfully processing applications during the pandemic, getting applicants medically qualified to recieve a service dog from our program. We also continued training service dogs (during the pandemic) for veterans and civilians, including first responders - for PTSD, Diabetic Alert, Seizure Response and Mobility Assist service dog. This will allow us to resume immediately placing fully trained service as soon as risk, associated with the pandemic, normalizes.Service Dogs for America has placed services dogs in many US states. As evidenced by the number of dogs placed, one of the newest and most successful programs Service Dogs for America currently has is the PTSD service dog program. We secured a grant which assisted us in placing service dogs with veterans at no cost to the veteran. Several of the service dogs placed in this fiscal year were teamed with combat-connected disabled veterans.Service Dogs for America continues to be the only fully accredited (by Assistance Dogs International, ADI) service dog organization placing PTSD service dogs with civilian clients as well as veterans. Service Dogs for America has been accredited by ADI since 2010. Service Dogs for America is also the only Assistance Dogs International accredited organization without a waiting list for client placements. That means as soon as soon as a client is medically approved for placement, their team training can begin as soon as they can travel to our campus for team training! The industry has an average waiting list of two to five years!Our Diabetic Alert Serve Dog Program has also been a wonderful volunteer opportunity as we have many individuals in a 50 mile radius who collect and donate saliva samples for the program -which are used for "scenting" training for the dogs. Our Inmate Canine Assistance Programs (ICAP) continues to flourish. We started our flagship ICAP program in Jamestown (James River Correctional Center) in 2008. In June 2015, we expanded into the Bismarck region by adding a Prison Puppy Program at Missouri River Correctional Center (MRCC). In April 2016, we partnered with the North Dakota State Penitentiary to offer ICAP at their facility in Bismarck. With these programs, our certified trainers instruct inmates on our dog training techniques and the inmates work, daily, training the canines on tasks and behaviors from Basic 5 commands (sit, stay, down, heel, come) all the way through advanced service dog behaviors (alert, open door, etc). There are 34 handlers in ICAP. That is 34 residents who are able to learn to train service dog and give back to the community through their service. The ultimate goal of this program is to offer inmates a useful job skill which will assist them in their transition back into society.Service Dogs for America also collaborates with dog rescue organizations in the region to obtain appropriate dogs for the program. The dogs are temperament-tested by the staff at Service Dogs for America. If the trainer feels the dog has the characteristics of a good service dog, SDA would take the dog into our program. If the dog doesn't meet the criteria for a service dog, the rescue organization will get the dog back and will be able to adopt out a dog with basic skills and manners. We feel it will be a beneficial endeavor for all involved, as lack of obedience is a main reason a lot of shelter pets are abandoned or returned.SDA has started laying the groundwork for a Courthouse Dogs (victims' advocacy) program. This program would allow dogs to provide comfort and assistance to victims in every aspect of court proceedings (interviews, testimony, questioning, etc.). The program planning is in its infancy.Service Dogs for America continues to strive to lower their overhead. During the previous reporting period, overhead was 13.8%. The administration and board of directors work voraciously to ensure donors' dollars are carefully and thoughtfully spent. Every dollar donated to Service Dogs for America goes toward fulfilling our mission to train and certify service dogs for individuals with disabilities.

---

---

Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (public 990 form dataset) from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202131189349301053_public.xml