Service Dogs

and Kids:

Making It Work

by Kathy Wechsler

We all know how valuable service dogs are to people with disabilities, but service dog training organizations often overlook the needs of one important subgroup: Children.

Located in Princeton, Mass., Canines for Disabled Kids (CDK) helps provide service dogs for children with disabilities (ages 6-18) by underwriting the cost of training the dogs. CDK partners with Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans (also known by its old acronym, NEADS), and works to raise public awareness of service dogs, including the fact that they often can be matched with children.

“We started working with children because we wanted to encourage other organizations to do the same,” says CDK Executive Director Kristin Law. “We feel it’s really important for children to have all the tools they need to overcome their disability, and that will make them more efficient with their tools when they’re adults.”