About PawPADs
PawPADs at a Glance
Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs (PawPADs) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Savage, Minnesota.
Our focus is on training service dogs for people with physical mobility disabilities and Diabetic Alert Dogs.
Our funding relies primarily on individual contributions, corporate and foundation contributions, fundraisers, gifts in-kind and grants.
Through our training programs - Prison Road Puppies, Paw Corps, Project Y.E.S., and the SIT Program -we offer volunteers, veterans, inmates, and youth the opportunity to help raise and train our amazing canines.
Currently 20+ service-dogs-in-training in our various programs.
Two full-time paid staff, one part-time contract educator/trainer, and nearly 50 Volunteers, at two locations (Savage and FCI Sandstone), assist in various aspects of our dogs lives and programs.
The PawPADs Campus and Training Center
Located just south of the Twin-Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul in Savage, Minnesota, the PawPADs Campus provides an ideal training and living area for the dogs-in-training. Through the
donated use of a 7 acre former horse property, our location near malls, shopping centers and restaurants and public transportation provide unlimited public access training opportunities for the dogs and volunteer opportunities for those committed to pitching in. You may wish to attend our one hour information sessions in the evening. They are scheduled to occur on the THIRD MONDAY of each month at 6:00 pm. Click Here To Check Our Events Calendar.
Take a virtual tour of Campus
The PawPADs Difference:
Innovative Training Programs. Programs designed to create powerful, life-enhancing experiences through working with dogs - as the very act of working with, being around and training these dogs can be therapeutic and life-altering in profound ways.
Positive Training Methods. PawPADS uses only positive reinforcement to shape behaviors into tasks useful to human partners.
Animal Rescue. Our goal is to train one rescue dog for every dog bred for our programs. These rescue dogs may be trained as Diabetic Alert Dogs, Home helpmates, and/or working as hearing dogs. There's a job for every dog that trots out our doors...even if it is simply to be the best partner and family companion ever!
 at Tee It Up for the Troops event [1600x1200].JPG "Tee It Up for The Troops")
Accreditation. PawPADs is a candidate member of Assistance Dogs International (ADI). ADI, a non-profit organization, works towards improving the areas of training, placement, and utilization of Assistance Dogs, as well as staff and volunteer education.
Responsible Fiscal Accountability. As a federally registered 501 (C) (3) non-profit (EIN 510593176)and a State of Minnesota registered non-profit, transparency is a responsibility we take seriously. You can be assured every ounce of purpose is being "wrung" out of your donated dollar so that more goes to achieving our mission. Check us out on "GuideStar"
Environmental Impact. From our dog waste disposal methods to re purposing items into other useful items to recycling dog food bags, PawPADs is committed to minimizing our impact on our fragile earth in every way we can.
Founder & Executive Director
PawPADs' Founder and Executive Director, Linda Ball, has spent over 25 years working in the social services and non-profit fields. A Minnesota native and a University of Minnesota Alumnus, she holds her M.S. Degree in Experiential Education. An experienced professional dog trainer and non-profit manager, Linda studied under Dr. Bonita Bergin, the originator of the service dog concept, at the Bergin University of Canine Studies (formerly the Assistance Dog Institute)
where she received a Degree in Service Dog Education as well as her Instructor's Certificate in the High Schooled Assistance Dog Program.
Working with our service dogs is pure magic: magic, for me, as well as the trainers, volunteers, and puppy raisers who watch the light bulbs light up in a puppy's mind as they figure out how to open a door, turn on a light or go get help for their partner. The magic of seeing a service dog in-training 'choose' it's partner and the difference it makes in the new partners life" ~ Linda Ball
- B.A. Speech Communications
- M.Ed. Experiential Education
- A.S. Assistance Dog Education
- m-MBA, Nonprofit Management
- Formerly the Regional Director, GOAL Ireland (an International Humanitarian Aid Organization), in Bosnia, Kosovo and Central America
- Peace Corps Volunteer, Mongolia '93-'95, and author of the first Mongolian Sign Language dictionary
- Presidents "Call To Service" Lifetime Volunteer Service Award
- Four times trans-continental crossing of the United States by bicycle - raising donations and awareness for cancer research and the Susan G. Komen foundation, the world's largest breast cancer organization.
Please consider making Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs, Inc. one of your top non-profit organizations to support in 2012. PawPADs is a 501(c)(3)charitable organization and all contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.
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