Opportunity: Aptly named, "Opportunity Inc", the facility itself is an ever expanding group of dedicated people who truly believe in what is happening here. Along with investing in our future through rebuilding and remodeling mobile homes to house disabled individuals from outside our immediate area who are here to learn to team with a trained Service Dog which will assist them to mitigate both physical and psychological disabilities, these mobile homes are home to interns who come to learn the ins and outs of animal shelter management. Our 1 and 2 year courses instruct young people interested in pursuing a career in an animal welfare related field by teaching them the importance of always remembering the things that are truly important, the animals first, then the realities of operating a business.
Opportunities for the dogs which come through the facility come in the way of being housed and cared for in clean, well maintained kennels while they undergo initial testing to determine if they have the right stuff to become a working Service Dog for a handicapped individual. Those that do, go on to train in the many things that will be required of them. They are placed with a person who truly needs the amazing things these beautiful dogs can do, and for the dog, he or she, once just another throw-away that someone did not want, finds a lifetime of the love and respect they deserve from their new partner. The absolute best of the best in win / win situations. The dogs that do not make it through the course are not forgotten or just tossed away again however. They are placed for adoption to new homes and families by our organization and are cared for here in our own small shelter area for however long it takes to get them into a new home. New adopting families learn the pleasures of having a well trained, well mannered family pet, while the dog becomes a member of a loving family and is allowed to enjoy a life many other dogs never learn or realize.
For the amazing people who work here everyday, they each learn the real rewards gained by helping someone else who needs the help. Many of our staff are handicapped in one way or another themselves, which gives us insight into the problems faced by disabled people that very few other organization can boast. Boast? Yes, we are very proud of the capabilities of each of our staff members and their ability to work with each person individually to provide real solutions. One thing that will not be found here is "token assistance". Our staff continues to grow as well, with people who have gone through one of our programs and learned that the best way they can help themselves is to help someone else who needs what they have gotten here.
We're not just Service Dogs though, anyone who is experiencing problems in their life who needs a bit of help to be able to make sure their loved pets never wind up in animal shelter awaiting adoption to a new owner or family, are welcome, as we work to provide alternatives and honest solutions to those problems. We provide a wide range of services available to counselors, psychologists, and other health professionals through assisted therapy animals. Too, we assist cities and communities with animal sheltering services where an alternatives must be found to fit in with small community budgets.
All in all, opportunities abound for both people and the dogs we meet here at the facility.

Hope: Hope is something we are each very familiar with as solutions to our own personal problems are directly responsible for us being here. In one way or another each of us has found the help we have needed to function as a working member of today's society. Along with learning how to cope and help ourselves, we have also learned the vast rewards of helping someone else in a similar situation. Through our own stories of personal experience and success, we are able to give hope to those who are new to our organization and just beginning the process of learning to live through their disabilities. Through hope, these people expand their capabilities and belief in themselves and go on to function in public areas they may have not seen or gone to in years.
For pet owners who are experiencing a temporary personal crises in their lives, one which endangers the lives of the pets they love, we offer services which will provide for those pets until the person can get back on their feet and once again care for their pets as they want and need to themselves. These services give hope in a whole different manner as they allow the pet owners the ability to concentrate on the pressures and complexities of rebuilding their lives knowing their pets are safe, cared for, and will be returned to them when they are ready.
Hope is also provided to elderly people who can no longer afford the cost of paying for the things they must have for themselves such as utilities, food, prescriptions, etc, and the cost of providing for their beloved companion animal at the same time. Through a program of ours, these pets are cared for us as we cover the expense of making sure the pet has food each month and annual vaccinations and physical check-ups. In this way, these pets remain with the person who loves them but otherwise would be forced to give them up to an animal shelter where they would be treated as any other stray and placed in new homes with new people they do not know and many times do not want to be with.
Hope is maintained at our facility as we continue to search for new ways dogs and other animals can provide assistance to people in the way of assisted therapy animals. We continue to try to enlist the support of local physicians, psychologists, counselors, and even educators who are interested in advancing their own capabilities through the use of these animals in their own physical and mental treatment programs, theraputic programs, and classes. Therapy animals is an ever expanding field which shows no boundaries in the reach of using animals to mitigate the healing process while the education of our young people in the importance of animals in our lives is invaluable and can only result in better lives for all of us, people and animals.

Results: Through our unique programs designed to offer support and assistance to pet owners, we have tripled, in just the last year, our user base providing services to many area eldlerly people and other disabled or handicapped individuals living in assisted housing. These prorgrams have been responsible for over 200 pets remaining with the family and people who love them. These are pets that have never known the realities of being forced to live in a shelter environment and being placed into strange new homes with people they do not know... And never will. These programs have made life with their pets bearable financially for people who could not have otherwise been able to care for those pets. Because of our programs, people have been assured that their pets will be there waiting for them when they are ready to take them back and once again be a complete family with the animals they love by their sides.
The Service Dog Training / Placement program has given disabled individuals the opportunity to return to society knowing they can perform basic tasks and chores required of each person as we walk through life. Our dogs are providing not only physical assistance to those who may not be able to bend over to pick up an item from the floor, or answer a telephone in time, or get through and across barriers such as doorways, up small hills, etc., but also psychological assistance as they give their new partners the emotional support they may need to just leave their homes and go to the local Wal-mart, or out to eat, or even to a movie. Through our unique training process, the bond created between partners, both human and dog, becomes one of mutaul respect, appreciation, and most importantly love. Our dogs want to work for their partners. It is never a relationship based on forcing the dog to perform because it has to, rather, because it wants to. Our results have been astounding as we have seen dogs see and realize a specific need of their partner, and then find a way to mitigate that problem themselves, without the help of a trainer to assist them. The realization that these dogs are capable of this, opens new doors not just in our own organization and local area, but also in the world of training service dogs for handicapped people in ways we could never before imagine. As our results grow and become noticed by bigger, more established organizations, we will be there to provide assistance revising their own training techniques and procedures to include the techniques which see the results we are acheiving in our dog/human teams.
By disagreeing with many large service dog training organizations who believe that shelter dogs cannot make good service dogs, we have saved the lives of discarded dogs, retrained them and are seeing them work with a disabled individual successfully everyday. Dogs that would otherwise face the very real possibility of euthanasia because of the belief they are good for nothing, are proving themselves exemplary in Service Dog work and leading our program in the number of dogs used as well as their abilities to ever more than we ask of them to assist their human partners. In hoping for a win / win situation, we could never have asked for better results than those we are seeing through this new and unique training program.
Results for the people involved in the program have themselves been enormous as we watch people with emotional problems such as PTSD who are seriously afraid to even leave their homes, now not only smiling and relaxed as they walk through the store to do their weekly shopping, but also volunteering now for us to help someone else who is now where they once were. These people, as they work to overcome their own handicaps, become invaluable to us too, as they join our support group designed to match them with someone else who has similar symptoms or problems. While realizing the importance of, and continuing to reinforce the need for their own therapists, counselors, and other health professionals, we work with people in real life situations rather than in an office.
Results like ours are not made by accident. It takes dedication to cause, the commonality of effort of volunteers, staff, and even board members, as well as the commitment to the people and animals who enroll in our programs. Those of us at the SPCA love our chosen work. We do it with the pride of knowing we are providing services to our community which are needed and appreciated by those we serve. Our goals allow us to continue to work for better... Better services, better resources, better programs etc. As the organization grows, those who work here grow with it. Each of our capabilities expand with each new person enrolled in a program. Our knowledge of the areas we specialize in grows constantly as we seek new information and techniques that may be incorporated into our own, and refuse to ever believe that we know it all and do it the only way it should be done. We understand that neither of these statements can ever be true.

Overall: As you meet our staff you will see how each of us has overcome disabilities in our own lives to become truly valued working members of this organization. By learning how to cope ourselves, we have learned how to assist others in the same, or related situations. Our insight into the problems faced by handicapped individuals everyday, allows us to offer real solutions to those problems that other organizations simply cannot match having never truly experienced these unique situations themselves. We are growing and advancing as our solutions and techniques continue to become more sophisticated. As much as we enjoy helping others, we also enjoy learning for ourselves. With knowledge comes the ability to be able to do more, be more responsible doing it, and make a bigger difference in the lives of those we can assist.
Join us in this endeavor. We know you will also realize the rewards that come from doing the right thing. Assisting those less fortunate than ourselves is a moral duty to each of us with the ability to do so. There are many ways your assistance may be used by our organization. Contact our corporate office to discuss the ways you, your company or organization can join us to provide services and programs to people who need not just our help but yours as well. Call 870-453-7249 for more information.