Meet Steinway & Broadway!
For the first time in our 36-year history, SDI has adopted brothers! In our recent visit to San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter, we found this amazing duo, now christened The Way Brothers!
Seized from a cruelty/neglect situation, these sensational siblings flew through their evaluation tests, demonstrating confidence, friendliness, retrieve drive, patience and smarts.
It's a lucky day for everyone, a real pot-o-gold when we discover two dogs in a single visit. Steinway and Broadway are adjusting well to their new SDI home. In two weeks, they will be out of quarantine and ready to meet their new classmates in our 2024 Music Class, plus the outstanding members of the 2023 Cool Cars Class.
We plan to adopt six more dogs to completely fill our kennels. With your help, we can get our wonderful clients their dogs faster than you can say, "Where's me Lucky Charms!"
SDI clients receive their dogs free of charge. Won't you chip in to help with their veterinary and training costs?
Thanks, City Hall :-)
A huge thank you to Dripping Springs Mayor Bill Foulds and everyone at City Hall for opening your doors to our public outing training. Every Thursday at 10:00 am, our Trainers bring our Service Dogs in training to our City Hall offices to gain experience in a workplace setting that it is open to the public, too!
On the first day, we focused on the parking lot, to acclimate the dogs to the traffic along historic Mercer Street. Next, our dogs will come inside for more real life experience.
Public training involves all sorts of workplaces, stores, restaurants and even the airport. And no matter how far we go, there's no place like home! Thanks, Drippin'!
Service Dogs must behave exceptionally well in public, which takes a big investment of time and energy. Won't you chip in to help support our training?
From Wheelchair to Powerlifting Coach
Injured at age 24 while serving as a firefighter in the United States Air Force, Bam Rubenstein struggled with debilitating back pain and mobility challenges. "It was a long fall off that fuselage. I fell off in Grenada and woke up in San Antonio," Bam says.
Multiple back and leg surgeries led to an extreme weight gain and needing to use a wheelchair.
Enter Service Dogs, Inc. and Service Dog Solo, part of our Star Wars Class. SDI adopted Solo from our program with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department's PAWS program. SDI taught specially qualifying youth, serving sentences at the Ron Jackson Facility in Brownwood, our positive training methods to use with dogs adopted from the Brownwood Animal Shelter. Solo was the first dog from that program to graduate as an SDI Service Dog. The youth learned how to use positives to relate to people as well as dogs and SDI could advance dogs already trained in basic behaviors.
"It was like a rescue helping a rescue helping a rescue," says Bam. "With SDI, everybody wins."
With Solo by his side, Bam found new independence. "Solo has helped me with tasks like picking up my cane, opening doors, and most importantly, helping me stand up from seated positions," he said.
Solo also encouraged Bam to become more active. "He got me out of my seat, off my butt, out in the street," Bam said. Their daily walks led Bam to lose 85 pounds as his health improved dramatically.
"I'm not using the wheelchair anymore and I rarely use the cane," says Bam, "Solo has been a big part of that."
Bam now coaches a Special Olympics powerlifting team, a role he found purpose in thanks to Solo's support. "Service above self - that's what I try to do," he said.
Won't you support more miracles like Bam and Solo with a gift to our training program?
Amplify Austin Day spotlights collective community giving with 24 hours for Central Texans to support their favorite local nonprofits. March 6th, 6:00 pm - March 7th, 6:00 pm.
Early Giving is easy: now - March 6, 6:00 PM. And Amplify Austin runs for 24 hours: March 6, 6 pm - March 7, 6:00 pm.
We’re raising $10,000 to equip our new kennel with a fire detection system!
(1) Click here to donate via our Amplify Austin page!
(2) Once there, you can start a fundraiser and rally your friends, family and co-workers to help us qualify for bonuses. Help us make sure our dogs are safe!
Adopt One Dog: Save 2 Lives!
Career Change Dogs start out in our professional Service Dog training program and then show us they prefer life as a pet dog.
We prioritize our dogs’ best interests, so we transition them to our pet adoption program to find them loving homes where they can thrive. All Career Change Dogs continue to receive the same level of training as we give our Service Dogs.
When you adopt an SDI Career Change Dog, you open up a spot for another rescue dog - thus saving TWO dogs! You're also helping our clients get their Service Dogs sooner because we can now add more dogs to train.