You don’t have to love animals to be moved and uplifted, you only have to have a heart.
Some dogs fetch and roll over, some dogs take you shopping, help you get thru grad school or help you start a business. Some dogs go on hikes with you in the Grand Canyon and some dogs you trust with your life every day. These are only a few of the things that the disabled can do now because of their assistance dogs.
California Canine Academy has grown with 45 years of experience from training and boarding dogs to focusing on teaching underprivileged and at-risk teens how to train assistance dogs for the disabled. Because of our programs, the teens are learning parenting skills, responsibility, anger management, empathy and are now showing compassion and love, not only for the dog that they are training, but also for their fellow students and family members. By utilizing our at-risk teen program, the disabled community need only wait 1½-2 years, instead of the average 5-7. We help improve our community, the lives of the disabled and high school teenagers through our special programs of training and caring for assistance dogs.
We are a small 501(c) 3 non-profit organization and we are the only such organization in Merced County and among the few in the Central Valley. Now after 24 years in the same location, the owner of the property has told us that we MUST move so that he can plant more almond trees. We desperately need to find another location so that we can continue to offer the community our services and programs. Because we do have programs for the underprivileged and at risk teens in the Merced County School District, we need a new location in the Merced area. We must inform the community of our plight. As one of our clients has said –“ before my service dog, unconditional love and someone being there for me was not to be found. Since having the service dog, I have known kindness of strangers, love and compassion…feelings I never thought I would again experience because of my disability.”
Having the freedom to do what you want in life…nothing more, nothing less. That is all that a disabled person asks for. With your help to California Canine Academy / Assistance Dogs, nothing need ever change that.
We desperately need the community to open their eyes and hearts to the plight of California Canine Academy / Assistance Dogs. We ask the community to help us find and donate a new facility/home within an area of 5 miles of the town of Merced. The ideal property has to be large enough that would allow us to have indoor training facilities so that training does not have to be postponed due to inclement weather. It would be a place that would allow us to grow and have a place where puppies can be puppies, where barking and having room to run and play will not bother neighbors. A place where we would have temporary living quarters for the recipients of the dogs. There they would learn how to live and work with their new assistance dog in the comfort of a home atmosphere.
WHEN IN YOUR LIFE DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TOTALLY CHANGE ANOTHER PERSON’S LIFE FOR THE BETTER? WE CAN CONTINUE TO DO THAT WITH YOUR HELP. WE CAN CHANGE LIVES AND MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THOSE IN NEED “USING SPECIAL DOGS TO HELP SPECIAL PEOPLE”.
Please, this is YOUR opportunity to join us… Make a Difference Now!

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