Kindness and Respect
ADW raises and trains dogs with kindness and respect to assist children and adults with disabilities. Read more about Our Dogs.
Student Trainers
ADW teaches students of all abilities to help train our dogs. These student programs instill confidence, responsibility, communication skills and respect for diversity. Find out how to get involved with Our Student Trainers.
Greater Independence
ADW educates and advocates for people with visible and invisible disabilities and their right to have service dogs for greater independence in daily living. Learn more about the People We Serve.
Serving Communities
ADW staff is continually evolving to meet the needs of clients, students, volunteers, dogs and the communities we serve. Read more about Our Team
Our History
With the core value of respect for the singular bond between humans and dogs and their unique ability to work together as a team, Jill Felice (Program Director) founded Assistance Dogs of the West in 1995. Qualities of kindness, gentleness and respect in training dogs to assist humans define everything that we do. This compassionate training approach facilitates the deepest possible bond between humans and animals, and makes ADW’s program a model for best practices in social-relationship interactions.
The keystone of ADW’s program is teaching diverse student populations to support the work of professional dog trainers. Encouraging youth leadership is vital to who we are.
In the dog-training process, quality and quantity of learning both are served. Every ADW dog learns a minimum of 90 commands. Additional training that educates dogs to serve such complex disabilities as medical alert (link) and PTSD have expanded our programs, and continue to help us build community and empower diverse populations. Success story upon success story describe the incredible commitment and love ADW dogs bring to our clients’ lives.
We also have accepted new opportunities to extend our knowledge into settings that have distinctive needs for ADW dogs. For more than six years, we have trained facility dogs for work in professional group settings from private therapeutic practices, to drug treatment centers, to college campuses, to judicial districts. Wherever they serve in our program spectrum, ADW dogs reflect our commitment to fostering compassion as the hallmark of leadership and positive social change.