Helping Paws breeds, raises, and trains Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers for assistance work. We rely on these breeds for their natural desire to work with people and strong retrieving instincts.
The assistance dog industry often utilizes a cross between Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. These crosses bring an ideal balance between the sensitive, calm temperament of the Golden Retriever and the hard working nature of the Labrador Retriever. At this time, Helping Paws does not breed this cross, but we do receive crosses from other assistance dog organizations through our membership with the Assistance Dogs International Breeding Cooperative.
Our breeding dogs complete two years of service dog training to evaluate their response to environmental stimuli, retrieving drive, and overall fit for assistance work. These dogs live in homes with dedicated caretaker families, who also complete the full two years of training. After a rigorous clearance and evaluation process, we select dogs for breeding from our training program. Our caretaker homes whelp and raise the litter under the guidance of our breeding staff until the puppies are approximately 9 weeks old. After, the puppies are placed with volunteers to begin the next phase of their journey.
We require both the sire and dam to pass full health clearances and behavioral evaluations before selection for breeding. We then thoughtfully select a breeding pairing that will produce ideal candidates for our training program.
If you're interested in becoming a caretaker home, please review our guidelines and complete an application.
