PAWS places Breeding Dogs within a specified range of PAWS Headquarters, based in Wayland, MI. The host homes for the males must live within 45 minutes of PAWS and the host homes for the females must live within 1 hour and 45 minutes from PAWS. 

PAWS requires a criminal background check on all Breeding Host Home volunteers and any members of the household that are over 18 years. This is to ensure there is a safe environment for our dogs, staff, and volunteers.  

Yes, other pets are welcome in the home while housing a Breeding Dog! However, there cannot be another dog of the opposite sex that is intact. When we have a Breeding Dog ready to go home with you, we will have you bring your personal dog to PAWS headquarters so the two dogs can meet and we can make sure they get along well.

No, but anyone without a fenced yard should use secure tie out or be able to leash walk the dog for break times. PAWS dogs are not allowed to run free unless they are in a completely fenced area to ensure the dog’s safety. We do not allow host homes to use an invisible fence with the dog. 

Yes, most PAWS breeding host homes do work full-time outside the home! If hosting a female Breeding Dog, you may want to arrange to have a few days off around the time puppies are born to make sure everything is going smoothly, especially the first time she has puppies. 

Yes, but be aware that this could affect the wait time before we have a dog available for you. For example, if you are interested in a male dog only, the wait could be longer since our highest need is generally for female homes. 

PAWS will provide a crate, collar, leash, and small bag of food to transition them over to their regular food. If housing a female, PAWS will provide all the whelping equipment and puppy food for mom and puppies during whelping and the care for 8 weeks before they turn in to PAWS.

When PAWS began in 1979, we were training rescue dogs to be Assistance Dogs, but we no longer do this for several reasons:

The health, temperament, and trainability of rescue dogs can be difficult to predict because the origin of the dog is often unknown. Good health, temperament, and trainability are critical to becoming an Assistance Dog. The dog must have specific characteristics such as the motivation to work and desire to have a good relationship with humans, which are not always found in dogs from shelters. After years of working with dogs from shelters, we found the success rate of a dog becoming an Assistance Dog was only around 1 in 12. By using specific breeds with the characteristics needed for an Assistance Dog, the success rate has increased to 1 in 3 or 4. 

Rescue dogs can come with a multitude of unknown health issues, which can prevent or end the dog’s career as an Assistance Dog. An example of a rampant health issue in dogs is dysplasia, typically with hips or elbows. However, dysplasia cannot be fully diagnosed/recognized until the dog is at least 6, and sometimes not until they are 24, months old. PAWS would have to train a rescue puppy for six to 12 months, investing a great deal of resources into the training, to then find out the dog would be in pain and suffer as a working Assistance Dog later in life. With a breeding program, we have been able to drastically reduce or eliminate some health issues that our dogs could face, allowing them a higher probability of becoming an Assistance Dog and/or extending their career.  

The investment in training an Assistance Dog is estimated to be around $35,000 and takes about 2.5-3 years for a dog to complete training. It requires a massive amount of time and money to train an Assistance Dog and we must be mindful of our limited resources as a nonprofit. There are no medical insurance companies or government grants that cover this cost, so almost all the money comes from generous donors, and we take being stewards of their contributions very seriously.  

We also consider breeding dogs very seriously and take many precautions to maintain a conscientious breeding program, so as not to contribute to shelter populations. We spay/neuter each of our dogs before they leave for their final placement, carefully track puppies born in each litter, and meticulously consider each dogs lineage and each litters potential before breeding.  

Additionally, we are committed to a goal of 90% of the dogs we breed going into a working career. If a PAWS Dog is unable to become an Assistance Dog, it is the first priority to find them working careers as Facility Dogs that provide therapy to people in hospitals, schools, courtrooms, etc. After that, the second priority is for the dog to work with law enforcement or to serve Veterans. Becoming a pet is rare for a PAWS Dog and is not the intention of our program. 

Our goal is to provide healthy, well-trained, life-changing Assistance Dogs to people with disabilities, and we have found that the breeding program is the best way to accomplish this.