Our Story

Founded in 2024, Hope Paws and Second Chances is designated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Hope Paws and Second Chances is committed to saving the lives of rescue animals that show the qualities of a service animal. By providing nurturing environments and an understanding of how dogs learn, we will train these dogs to be superior partners to humans in need.

Hope Paws and Second Chances is joining forces with our local shelters and rescue agencies to find the “unicorns” and give these canines the ultimate purpose in life - allowing our recipients ease from some of the confines of their disabilities. We are diversified in the disabilities and recipients that we will place our dogs with and do not train for one specific disability. We are not pairing a recipient to a dog, but rather the dog to their forever human in respect to the dog’s strengths with specific tasks.

With appropriate funding, Hope Paws and Second Chances will provide on-going support to the recipients and will forever be a landing base for dogs that are in our program. Once a Hope Paws and Second Chances dog, always a Hope Paws and Second Chances member. We will be there for the lifetime of the dog.

They will never be a “rescue” in need of a home again.

Mission

At Hope Paws and Second Chances, we are dedicated to saving the lives of rescue animals with service potential. Through nurturing environments and understanding dog behavior, we train them to be exceptional partners for individuals in need. What sets us apart is our collaboration with local shelters to identify unique dogs, providing them with a purpose to enhance the lives of recipients with disabilities. We focus on matching the right dog with their forever human, ensuring a strong bond and lasting companionship.

Vision

Hope Paws and Second Chances is the future of service dogs. Committed to the rescue community of canines that have qualities often overlooked, we will be looking for these qualities to take and place them in our training program. Providing the highest standards of excellence in training service dogs. We will not stop caring for these dogs at placement though. There will be continued follow up with the newly united team to make sure they are adapting well to each other and that their journey is as smooth as possible. We will continue to provide assistance as needed and will always welcome home our pups if needing to fulfill a new placement or upon retirement or other extenuating circumstances.

Our Core Values

Dog Health and Welfare

To ensure the physical and emotional safety of all the dogs that we adopt into our program. We are committed to modern training methods and the best care and treatment that demonstrate partnership, appreciation and respect.

Innovation

Challenging our personal and professional thinking and striving to continuously improve our mindset to become the best we can be. Always looking to improve the current standard in service dogs.

Teamwork

Collaboration, cooperation, and mutual support among individuals is essential to achieve our mission. Each member has an important role to play for us to succeed.

Dreams to Reality

I started training dogs on a small scale in late 2014 with Andrew Nelson of The Clever Canine. Never would I have believed the turn of events my life would take, nor the aspirations I would fulfill. My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, OCD, and Anxiety. I am no expert in child care and even less of an expert in parenting. But what I do know is how to communicate and understand animals. So I utilized that knowledge with my daughter and that is how we began to navigate this neurotypical world. Through interactions with our dogs and clients' dogs, I watched in pure amazement the connection and communication they shared. I embraced it and began to speak of one day combining my soft spot for rescues with assisting children with disabilities.

Fast forward to 2023 when I met a young boy and a fluffy blue dog, this young boy had recently been diagnosed with Autism and he hand-picked his puppy. And no puppy would do, they had looked at numerous puppies before “Oliver” was the one. The mother came to me when Oliver was about nine months old and asked if he could be turned into a service dog. Oliver and the child’s bond was astounding. My mission to become more knowledgeable in service animals began, as I felt the need to help this young boy and his fluffy blue dog. In early 2024, I was accepted into the Cooperative Paws Service Dog Coach program and became certified. Adding this to my list of accomplishments that I had acquired while making the transition to Owner and Trainer of The Clever Canine.

During this time, my daughter and I had become more active in fostering with our local animal rescue. When two hoarding cases were relinquished in the same week, I showed up at the adoption center with minimal knowledge of the situation, other than a mother and puppies were among those surrendered. A terrified black Labrador mother guarded her 7-day-old puppies with weary eyes and growls of warning. With the knowledge that she would unlikely find a foster that could handle a mom with behavioral concerns and 7-day-old puppies. My instincts said to take her. And thus began the whirlwind adventure I am on now. That terrified black Labrador mom became known as Mystique and had a very gentle soul. Something she had passed onto her puppies. As my daughter and I began to win over this black dog, we nurtured and cared for her puppies, starting to notice hints of some exceptional qualities in them, especially two of the golden colored girls. Here I had just received my certification to train service dogs, had an amazing team I was helping navigate the world, and two potential rescue puppies quite literally fell in my lap. I did what any insane person does, and called my best friend and pitched the idea of the non-profit to her. And because she is as sane as me, rather than talk me out of it, Stephanie joined me on this adventure. So here we are today, with Celeste and Lorelei “my golden girls” socializing with the world, learning how to be good puppies, and healing the missing pieces of every human they touch. The mission continues to grow with each passing day, but my original vision of taking rescue dogs and letting their true capabilities help people in need remains. The dogs will be paired with people that compliment the dogs abilities and will remain as part of Hope Paws and Second Chances family for the entirety of their lives. What this means is that there will always be financial support for the dogs and the family they are paired with, and will be returned to the organization if something were to happen to their human or their human is unable to care for them into retirement.

These dogs will never be a “rescue” again.