West Michigan Non Profit Helps People Be More Independent Thanks To These Good Boys

Over the weekend I attended Retriever Fever an event put on by Paws With A Cause. The event took place at Picnic Acre Park outside of the John Ball Zoo.

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The Retriever Fever event was for dog owners to meet up and learn about Paws With A Cause, and participate in a friendly competition between Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever owners to see who can raise the most support for PAWS in one afternoon.

What Is Paws With A Cause?

I've heard of Paws With A Cause but had no idea what this West Michigan non-profit was all about. PAWS enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities across the country through custom-trained PAWS Assistance Dogs. Several people at the event shared how PAWS has helped them out.

What Do PAWS Service Dogs Do?

They currently help with four different things.

Service Dogs
Hearing Dogs
Seizure Response Dogs
Service Dogs For Kids With Autism

You can learn more about these services here

How Can You Help Out Paws With A Cause?

You can Donate
Become a Volunteer
Other ways you can help

The History Of Paws With A Cause

In 1979, Michael D. Sapp Sr. and Antoinette (Candye) Sapp founded Paws With A Cause, initially named Ears for the Deaf^®. PAWS began when Mike agreed to help a friend. Marty Jansen and his wife, Dianne, are both deaf and had just adopted a young deaf child. Their hope was that Mike could train their Cairn Terrier CRYSTAL to alert them to important sounds such as their baby crying. Mike agreed and soon other deaf and hard of hearing people approached Mike and asked if they could have dogs trained as well.

Through the years PAWS has added additional Assistance Dog programs. PAWS now trains Service Dogs for people with physical disabilities, Seizure Response Dogs for people who have epilepsy, Hearing Dogs for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and Service Dogs for Children with Autism.

What started out as Mike and Candye helping a friend has grown into a national organization that has impacted the lives of thousands of people. Because of Mike and Candye’s vision and hard work.

You can learn more about Paws With A Cause here

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

Gallery Credit: Elena Kadvany