Bring ADEPT to Your Organization
Let’s talk about how ADEPT can come to your College, University, Correctional Facility, or other Institution!
ADEPT™ is a powerful hands-on learning experience which offers participants an opportunity to develop life skills by training assistance dogs for individuals with disabilities. The assistance dogs in-training gain the essential skills needed to transform lives and participants discover purpose, confidence, and a sense of fulfillment and first-hand satisfaction of the impact of their efforts.
ADEPT isn’t just a dog training program — it’s a professionally developed education experience with a proven track record of success.
We Bring:
✯ Deep Institutional Partnerships
Our experience includes impactful collaborations with the University of Wisconsin and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, demonstrating ADEPT’s adaptability and power across diverse educational settings.
✯ An Established Curriculum
✯ Nearly two decades of experience in training both dogs and people, with a robust structure that continues to evolve.
✯ Mission-Driven Education
Our mission centers on the educational power of dog training, developing empathy, confidence, and leadership in people as well as dogs.
✯ Broad & Relevant Continuing Education
Participants engage in meaningful, up-to-date learning—relevant for careers in animal behavior, social work, nonprofit leadership, and beyond.
What Participants Do:
✯ Take full responsibility for the dog’s training, socialization, health and welfare.
✯ Learn advanced obedience, public access, and task training (e.g., retrieving items, opening doors, turning lights on/off, and diabetic alerting)
✯ Gain real-world experience with nonprofit service dog work.
What They Learn:
✯ Time management, communication, emotional regulation, and teamwork.
✯ Leadership, disability advocacy, and ethical training practices.
A full curriculum including:
- Canine enrichment and reward-based training.
- Service dog laws, ethics, and access rights.
- Nonprofit management and team-building.
- PawPADs provides the dogs, expert instruction, and mentorship throughout.
It’s a serious commitment of time and energy—but one that transforms lives, on both ends of the leash.
Let’s talk about how ADEPT can come to your College, University, Correctional Facility, or other Institution!
The unit was full [of] love, more relaxed environment! Almost every person, including staff, showed more kindness and humanity; it made the inmates more open to staff! Relaxed atmosphere!! Best 3 1/2 years out of 33 years done!!!
This program is one of the MOST Constructive, life changing program any inmate or staff member could be part of. I’ve been involved in appr. 3 different programs earned 60-70 certificates of achievement. This is the MOST rewarding/life-altering – Personal Growth Program in prison or on the street anyone could get involved in. It goes to the Core of Humanity / Learning Love! Self-growth! Is Great! IT humanized everyone involved to new levels!
Even in a place like this I can still be in contact with my emotions, that I can change and care for others without being fake, just like dogs do … I can be responsible and affectionate. The way I see dogs, before it was like they were fun and good for pets but now the level of respect I have for them is greater.
As an intern, I am so grateful for all that PawPADs has taught me. Going into the internship, I thought I would just learn about dog training, but I have experience so much more than that. PawPADs helped me grow personally in confidence, knowledge, and how to advocate for myself and the dog I’m training plus so much more. For that, I will always be grateful for this organization and all that it does.
I’ve also seen the great lengths they have gone to train these dogs and make sure they go to the proper home, not just for the person, but also the dog. It is amazing work that they do and I’m happy to have been a part of their journey.
“As I reflect on my time at UW-River Falls, I can’t imagine not being in the ADEPT program, the impact it had on me is hard to put into words. I not only had the amazing opportunity to train four assistance dogs and see two of the dogs that I trained through to placements with clients, but I also made lifelong friendships with my fellow ADEPT interns. Being an ADEPT intern was challenging but so incredibly rewarding, each dog teaching me something new and bringing a new set of challenges and opportunities. To this day I am so proud to be able to share with others the amazing work PawPADs and the ADEPT program is doing and my experiences from the past two years. From the beginning I said that these dogs are life changers and I know that is true because they have forever changed mine.”
– Grace M
“ADEPT creates the opportunity for coming-of-age students and service dogs in-training to learn from each other, resulting in life-changing client placements. Student interns live their lives with their dogs, which means going to class, work, appointments, events, you name it. It also means going through the highs and the lows with each other, learning their personalities, celebrating small victories, educating the community, and advocating for individuals with disabilities. Living this life leads to endless teaching moments, both human and canine. The process of raising a service dog requires intense love, hard work, and determination.”
– Nate D.
The ADEPT internship has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Helping service dogs develop from puppies with no manners to fully-fledged diabetic alert dogs or physical assistance dogs is eye-opening. I have been able to see the dogs I have worked with find their perfect match and take on the world with their partner, and this has shown me that the ADEPT internship has not only changed my life for the better, but has also helped me change the lives of others in monumental ways.”
– Alana S
