About
Our Mission
At Pawsible we believe in a life of service to others and the value of canine companionship. We imagine a world where anyone can find their best selves in the connections and greater purpose gained through raising future assistance dogs. Our purpose is to make the raising of future assistance dogs more accessible and equitable for all.
WHAT WE DO
Pawsible is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing community development, financial assistance, and general support to the puppy raising community. Our efforts work from the ground up to support the assistance dog industry through the hearts and enablement of volunteer puppy raisers.
OUR FOCUS
Pawsible’s primary focus is puppy raisers who volunteer for an assistance dog organization. In our program support, we include United States-based organizations with and without nonprofit status or Assistance Dog International (ADI) certification, so long as the organization has a volunteer puppy raising program. At this time, only program volunteer puppy raisers are eligible for Pawsible’s financial support programs. However, we welcome anyone to join our team or take part in our community and internship programs.
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More broadly, Pawsible does publicly support those in the larger assistance dog community including owners training their own service dog, handlers of service dogs, and other types of volunteers involved in assistance dog organizations. We also welcome those in affiliated fields such as veterinary practices, dog training, and handlers of working dogs.
OUR VALUES
Equity & Accessibility
At Pawsible we are actively working to break down barriers to raising future assistance dogs and addressing the inequities within the assistance dog industry. Pawsible has a heavy focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion internally and externally to support the pursuit of our mission.
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Service
The assistance dog industry is largely operated by nonprofits and the volunteers supporting those organizations. Assistance dogs themselves also provide a great service to those they work with, even to the volunteers raising them. Service is at the core of Pawsible and we want to make volunteer puppy raising an opportunity for all who wish to reap the benefits and give to an amazing cause.
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Companionship
The heart of a puppy raiser lives in many assistance dogs. We see immense value in canine companionship both on the end of a handler receiving a service dog and the puppy raisers raising the future service dog. Many puppy raisers thoroughly enjoy and even benefit from the companionship the puppies-in-training provide.
Empathy
Bringing empathy into everything we do is critical to the success of our organization and raising assistance dogs. Pawsible recognizes that many situations faced by volunteer puppy raisers, others raising future assistance dogs, and even the assistance dog organizations themselves are not ideal. Pawsible is dedicated to supporting those in this industry and helping them be as successful as possible.
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Empathy also heavily informs Pawsible’s programs and we never judge a program applicant for any reason. The puppy-raising community is built on helping others and Pawsible strives to do just that to the fullest extent possible.
WHO ARE WE
Pawsible is a women-led nonprofit by and for volunteer puppy raisers. Pawsible was founded by a small group of university students passionate about helping others and forwarding change in the assistance dog community. The vast majority of our team members are also volunteering in other ways, most often as puppy raisers. We have also recruited non-puppy-raising team members who have fallen in love with our community through their experience with Pawsible.
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Our team also works on an entirely volunteer basis and we remain dedicated to giving back to the assistance dog industry. Pawsible’s internship program is just one example through which we are able to assist those in the community through professional and leadership development. We also provide continuous learning opportunities for all of those on our team.
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We also operate Pawsible entirely virtually. Most of our team members haven’t even met another Pawsible team member in person. However, operating virtually completely allows us to expand our team across the nation, diversify ourselves, and give our team virtual work skills that they will need as the world transitions more online.
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Interested in joining our team? Check out our open positions!