I visited Golden Paws Assistance Dogs, a Naples nonprofit that trains dogs to serve as assistance dogs for wounded combat veterans, first responders and children with severe disabilities.
Charlotte is the lead trainer. She worked with Valor, a two year old female golden retriever.
Golden Paws selects golden retrievers from two breeders, one in Florida and one in Texas, when the puppies are two weeks old. They look for highly intelligent and highly intuitive dogs, perhaps two or three puppies in a litter of 8 - 10. The puppies come to Golden Paws when they are eight weeks old.
At any time Golden Paws has about 50 dogs in its facility.
They have trained and placed hundreds since opening in 2012. It costs about $50-100,000 to train each golden retriever over the first two years of its life; they provide the dogs free to the recipients.
Each recipient receives a book about their dog when it goes home with them. The book has photographs and stories about their dog from the two years it was undergoing training.
Golden Paws is in a former Harley Davidson facility in Naples.
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