As you can tell if you keep up with us on Facebook, many of our veterans and dogs are starting to reach the point where they are completing their final test while in training-the Public Service Access test. That means we are at the point where we will be welcoming new recruits-both human and canine-into the program.  This is always a fun and exciting time for Stiggy’s Dogs both in seeing established relationships blossom into full blown psychiatric service dog teams and in welcoming new people into the Stiggy’s Family.

Some of you have asked what we provide the dogs in training. Now that we are starting to get settled into the new temporary training center, we were able to put together a kit that we give our veterans upon entry into the program. This is not all we give them throughout training, but it is our Stiggy’s Welcome Aboard Kit.

The Welcome Aboard Kit includes:

- Kong toy

- Tennis balls

- Intelligence Building Toy

- Unstuffed stuffed toy

- Appropriate training treats

- Appropriate collars and leash

- Bowls/dishes

- Storage container

- Crate (not pictured)

- Crate pad (not pictured)

We package this up and deliver it to the veteran on the first day of training. All of these things have unique purposes in our training process either in building intelligence, building trust, learning new tasks or beyond. They get used often and you may have even spotted some of these things in our training pictures.

The Welcome Aboard Kits’ value to bonding and training is priceless.  But they do come at a cost. Including crate, these kits cost between $200-225.  This is just one way in which your donations work every day to ensure that our veterans in training have what they need to get off on the right foot…or paw, as the case may be.

Many people ask us how they can help when we have a new class come into training. Here’s a few ways you can help with our new class to make sure they have what they need to succeed:

1.  Purchase items for our kits from our Amazon Wish List. This is easy and the items are sent directly to us. And, if you go to smile.amazon.com and purchase after you’ve signed up for our Amazon Smile affiliate donation, we get part of the purchase price back from Amazon! Go here to do this: http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/135CLIKQTPNTD

2.  Purchase items for our kits from your local pet supply store. This is a great way to support a local business and Stiggy’s Dogs at the same time. You can then mail the supplies to us at 2610 Bowen Road, Howell, MI 48855.  Variety is the spice of life, so as long as the treats are small and smelly, they’ll work perfectly for our training purposes!

3.  Donate your gently used crates. We are always looking for large and extra large dog crates that are in good working shape. All of our dogs need at least a large size crate, so unfortunately, small and medium ones will not work. But we can take the large and extra large ones off your hands. Email us at info@stiggysdogs.org if you are local to the Southeast Michigan area and we can arrange drop off or pick up.

4.  Sponsor a Welcome Aboard Kit. If we buy in bulk we can buy at a discount, so for your donation of $150, you can sponsor a Welcome Aboard Kit. Just click here to donate and make sure you tell us in the notes that you want to sponsor a Welcome Aboard Kit.

This is how you help us write happy endings…and fully-prepared new beginnings.