Welcome to Assistenzhunde Helfende Pfoten gGmbH
Our mission
We want to see children’s eyes light up with an assistance dog by their side as a friend, partner and helper. At the same time, the children’s eyes are sometimes a little older: the Helfende Pfoten train mainly for children and young people with a disability. However, some dogs show during training that they would prefer to live with an adult human. Therefore, every now and then we also accompany a (young) adult on the way to becoming an assistance dog team.
Our motivation
… is based on our history:
The Assistenzhunde Helfende Pfoten gGmbH, Helfende Pfoten / organization for short, has existed since May 2023, resulting from the merger of Helfende Pfoten e.V. Verein für Assistenzhunde & ihre Menschen and Gut Paulshof Assistenzhunde GbR.
The organization was founded by seven dedicated people who are all involved with assistance dogs and assistance dog teams in one way or another. The idea was to help people with a disability to finance an assistance dog, to train young dogs to become assistance dogs and to provide advice to all those affected by the issue of assistance dogs. From the very beginning, the focus was on diversity and openness to different ways of life as well as high quality education. Helfende Pfoten has remained true to this principle to this day.
Accredited member of ASSISTANCE DOGS INTERNATIONAL (ADI / ADEu)"
At the end of 2020, we applied to become a “CANDIDATE of ASSISTANCE DOGS INTERNATIONAL (ADI / ADEu)”. Since June 2024, we can now proudly claim that we have made it: we are an accredited member of the ADI.
We are delighted to have reached this milestone and to be able to guarantee our teams recognized high standards in the future.
Help
There are still many teams that have not gotten their fundraising totals together. We have already developed various models that can reduce the cost of an assistance dog, but anyone who has such a faithful companion themselves knows that a lot of work is required to have a reliable working dog by your side and this work must be paid for. Over the cost of the puppy, food, supplies, vet checks, socialization in the foster family, basic training, specialized training, to the final exam, it adds up to quite a bit.
