It may be cliche to say that dogs are man’s best friend, but Duo Dogs understands the fundamental truth in the old saying. For more than four decades, the nonprofit has cultivated positive change in the region by training and matching assistance dogs to people in need, providing facility dogs to institutions like hospitals and schools, and sending out volunteer teams of touch therapy dogs to support the community. T&S spoke to CEO Dawn Van Houten to learn more about Duo Dogs and how its four-legged friends make a difference in St. Louis and beyond.
What is the mission of Duo Dogs?
We’re unique from other organizations that are focused on dogs. It’s more than just the animals. Duo Dogs is really about people and dogs coming together. We build extraordinary bonds to cultivate positive mental health and physical well-being. We don’t just provide service dogs—we’re helping make people’s lives better.
Why is this an important issue for St. Louisans to support?
Assistance dogs are outstanding assets. We’re helping provide people with resources they couldn’t access otherwise. There’s not another organization who does what we do at the same scope, breadth and volume. We help people with disabilities achieve greater independence, allowing them to function better both in public and at home. Along with service dogs, we also train touch therapy dogs that work in hospitals, schools, nursing homes and more. Our volunteer teams interact with more than 300,000 people a year—imagine the community without the comfort of those interactions for people at their most vulnerable times.
What is the demand for assistance and therapy dogs?
There’s a great demand for our services, and we strive to meet that demand. We breed, train and raise our dogs, investing around $50,000 from birth until they are 2 years old. We then match them with people or organizations at no cost—they just have to take over veterinary and food expenses. Some people believe that we give the dogs away, and that is the end of our involvement, but our dogs remain Duo team members on assignment. It’s an eight-year partnership until they are adopted by their person and live as pets. We have 86 active service dog clients, and 50 more dogs in training right now.
How can people support Duo Dogs?
We pass along none of the training expenses to our clients, and we rely on the kindness of others to make that possible. Donations are a big deal for us. We also invite the community to attend our events. Not only to donate, but also to learn about and participate in what we do. We can always use volunteers. This can include working with our dogs or training your own dog to be part of our touch therapy team. Our volunteers also work with students through our Paws for Reading program, which aims to improve reading skills by offering dogs as a non-judgmental ear.
For more information, visit duodogs.org.
Photos courtesy of Duo Dogs
