Providing Service Dogs to Children Worldwide

4 Paws for Ability enriches the lives of children with disabilities by training and placing quality, task-trained service dogs. This provides increased independence for the children, and assistance to their families. And 4 Paws also works with veterans from recent conflicts who’ve lost the use of their limbs or their hearing while in active combat. In all cases, the results speak for themselves. Lives are transformed.

Our founder, Karen Shirk is alive today because of a service dog, Ben. Karen was home after open-heart surgery when a deadly mix of meds left her barely conscious and fighting for life. The phone rang and rang. Ben finally picked it up and placed it beside her, then began to bark. It was her dad, and he rushed over and got her the help she needed.

Please help this astonishing nonprofit agency continue to build its meaningful work. Your support will be a life-changing act for a child, a family, a dog, and for you. (It’s more than a project!)

 DONATE NOW!

 

Donate Online Temporarily Down

If you are attempting to donate online, you will see that the service is currently unavailable.  We will bring it back online as soon as possible.  In the meantime, you can continue sending offline donations to 4 Paws for Ability at our address, 253 Dayton Ave., Xenia, Ohio 253 Dayton Ave., Xenia, Ohio 45385.  If the donation is directed towards a specific program, please ensure that information is included in a note or on the memo line!

 

 

 

 

Experienced Service Dog Trainer Needed!  

For more information, click here. 

 

 

 

 

GX-Gold-Participant-L CharityNavigator-4-Star

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Upcoming Events

Costs for Service Dogs

  • At 4 Paws for Ability it costs at least $34,000 to train and place a service dog with a disabled child.
  • Through our partial payment for service model, our families can pay or engage in fundraising activities to cover the fee.
  • The fee for a service dog is $17,000.
  • Upon completion of training, 4 Paws service dogs are required to be re-certified annually with 4 Paws to maintain their skills and public access proficency
  • It costs about $1,500 - $2,000 to maintain a service dog each year...about $100 a month.