Volunteering

American Poodles At Work is a Massachusetts-based program which breeds, raises, trains, and places Standard Poodles as assistance dogs. We are dedicated to providing well-trained, intelligent, healthy Poodles who enjoy working for their partners, fulfilling the assistance dogs' purpose as an unobtrusive helpmate.

Cuddling with a puppy with very important!

How You Can Help

Whether it is by volunteering your time to socialize puppies or keep their kennels clean, by donating funds or supplies that help us fulfill our mission, or by taking on the extended responsibility of puppy parenting, APAW would appreciate any (or all!) of these offers to help.

Volunteering Your Time

For anyone who is local to Warren, MA we welcome volunteers to come pet puppies, learn how to assist in the training process for the dogs that are here, take Puppies out on community field trips or even become a Puppy Parent to take one of our Poodles into your home from the age of 6 months to 18 months.

Hands-on volunteerism is a great way to give back to your community in a real sense. These puppies, once fully trained, will be partnered with folks who very much need them.

Arranging For Donations of Goods, Services

For people who don't have enough time, or who live further away, we are always happy to receive donations of dog food (preferably Taste of the Wild), or moist treats for training (for example, Natural Balance rolls).

In addition, we have some other items on our Wish List. Many of these items you might already have been thinking of discarding -- old washable blankets, Little Tykes yard equipment or youth beds, etc. If you have a regular supply of quality fresh or frozen meat bones, the puppies would love those too.

Any seamstresses or tailors in the audience? Each puppy needs a cape when out in public, and they outgrow their capes quickly. We will provide material (so the APAW branding is uniform) if you provide the sewing expertise.

Donating Funds

There are many on-line companies who will ship directly to our center, and we now have an even easier way for you to donate.

Donations in any amount can be sent to our local pet store, where they will be entered into the APAW account to be used for purchase of what-ever pet supplies the program is currently in need of. This way you don't need to deal with placing an order etc - just choose the amount and mail out a single letter.

These checks can be made out to Country Exotic Pet Supply, and mailed to:

40 E Main St.
Ware, MA 01082

APAW will also gladly accept financial donations directly, by mailing a check/package to:

American Poodles At Work
c/o Jillian Gartner
1299 Bemis Rd.
PO Box 1933
Warren, MA 01083

*** Please note *** At this time, APAW is not recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization, so donations are unfortunately not tax-deductible.

Across the US, the most popular breeds for Service work are Labs and Goldens. After these, the next most common tend to be Poodles, Collies, and various mixes (often with a herding or retrieving breed).