Puppy Program Volunteer Opportunities

Our Puppy Program is looking for volunteers to help with our more specialized foster opportunities.

Whelping Homes: Volunteers in this role take a pregnant female dog into their home and, along with our Breeding Coordinator, help the dog give birth. They lovingly care for Mom and puppies for up to six weeks. This includes charting their growth, making sure they are developing appropriately, doing environmental enrichment exercises, socialization, and lots and lots of clean up! This role requires the volunteer to give 24/7 care to the mom and their puppies.

Medical Recovery & Evaluation Homes: These volunteers are available on shorter notice to foster a dog recovering from surgery, injury, or illness for 2-3 weeks (on average). Many of these opportunities involve driving the dog to and from their surgery and check-up appointments that could be in a variety of locations around the Twin Cities. It is critical to recovery and evaluations that these homes abide by the rules and directions as described, maintain excellent tracking if requested, and communicate promptly with Puppy Program staff. The ability to watch and care for the dog in a quiet environment for the majority of the day is also desired.

Autism Assist Evaluation Homes: Volunteers who serve in this way are willing to assess a Final Training dog's suitability for autism assist work for a 1-2 week period. These volunteers will have at least one child aged 3-8 and are comfortable observing and managing interactions between program dogs and their children. Volunteers will evaluate the dog's overall comfort levels with children and provide timely feedback on the dog's aptitude for working with children.

If you meet the requirements and are interested in helping, please contact puppyprogram@candocanines.org to learn more!