Assistance Dog FAQs

If you are interested in a service dog but live outside the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, you may find a service dog organization to work with you through Assistance Dogs International’s member search page.

CHAMP is proud to be a member of ADI, a coalition of assistance dog providers dedicated to excellence!

CHAMP applicants pay a $50 nonrefundable fee. After that, all of our services, including our dogs and any specialized equipment that may be required, are provided free-of-charge. Graduates are expected to take full responsibility for the dog, including care and feeding of their canine partner after placement, veterinary care, as well as purchase items like dog dishes, leashes, toys, a kennel, etc.

Maintaining a healthy, happy service dog is often more costly than maintaining a normal household pet. Your assistance dog will need a very high quality food and will likely visit the veterinarian more frequently, as its ability to work depends on continued good health. In addition, you will need to consider the potential costs of professional grooming, if needed. Service dogs must be clean and well-groomed at all times. contact CHAMP for an estimate of the cost of having a service dog.

CHAMP mainly uses Labrador and Golden Retrievers (as do most service dog providers.) We’ve also used crosses, and a few dogs of undefined heritage which came to us from the rescue community. We prefer that the parents of the puppies entering our program have full health clearances, including genetic screenings where appropriate.

The most important qualities we look for in a dog, regardless of breed, are health (including orthopedics), a friendly, intelligent personality, a strong work ethic and a desire to please.

All of the dogs entering our training program are screened for temperament and must pass a general good-health evaluation. CHAMP uses the PennHIP evaluation process to screen all of our dogs for hip abnormalities. Our dogs are also screened for eye and elbow abnormalities. Health screenings are expensive, but necessary to ensure each dog we place is mentally and physically able to perform the tasks required.

All CHAMP Service Dogs and Facility Dogs are spayed or neutered.

In almost all cases we require a fenced-in yard. Our dogs need playtime, exercise, and time to just kick back and be a dog. In addition to the obvious health benefits of exercise, we’ve also found that regular exercise greatly reduces the likelihood of the dog developing behavioral issues. A fenced-in yard provides a safe option.

If you do not have a fenced-in yard, we might consider a placement if you can safely and adequately provide daily active exercise and playtime for your dog, however, please keep the following in mind: We do not consider dog parks or electronic fencing to be safe options for our service and facility dogs. Most households do not have suitable indoor space for a good romp. Daily walking, which is often fine exercise for older dogs, unfortunately is not enough to meet the needs of most of our younger dogs.

Example of an alternative solution we would consider: Facility dog placed with a handler who does not have a fenced yard, but the facility has agreed to allow the handler to exercise the dog before and after work in the facility’s long, carpeted hallways and open areas. Handler comes in early, and plays ball with the dog before co-workers arrive.

Participation is never required, but we always enjoy having our students, graduates, family and friends attend fundraising events, volunteer appreciation parties, and other CHAMP gatherings. We are a mostly volunteer organization and our volunteer Board of Directors, puppy raisers, therapy and education teams as well as staff really enjoy meeting our assistance dog students and graduates.

Graduates are also encouraged to visit our prison training program so they can meet the people who trained their dog. Our offender-trainers sincerely appreciate the chance to meet our clients (and to see the dogs again, of course!)

Only Public access Service Dogs are allowed in public places.

Home Companion and Service dogs provide tasks in home settings and do not have public access. Facility dogs are only allowed in the facility the dog is contracted to go.

Dogs may be released from our training program for a number of reasons. Oftentimes, the reasons are health-related; for instance, the puppy or older dog does not pass health screenings. Dogs might also be released due to behavior and/or general temperament issues, like low confidence, excessive barking, or an energy level that is too high or too low for our needs.

We occasionally have released dogs available for placement as Companion Animals. To find out more about adopting a released dog, contact CHAMP