Domino Service Dogs

Background Statement

The foundation for Domino Service Dogs (DSD) was laid twelve years ago when our Founder and CEO Ms. Henry's youngest daughter suffered an injury that resulted in permanent paralysis. Unwilling to sacrifice her independence, Ms. Henry's daughter insisted that she have a service dog when she was 8 years old.

Ms. Henry discovered that acquiring a service dog for a child would not be an easy task. Most well-known organizations charge substantial fees and either require children to be at least twelve years of age or suffer from a terminal diagnosis. Using her years of equine training experience, Ms. Henry set out to train her daughter's 95 pound Great Pyrenees, Badger.

It took nearly 2 years to train Badger to assist her daughter with mobility issues such as walking, getting up from the floor and pulling a manual wheelchair. Badger gave her daughter independence, self esteem and helped her forge new friendships. Ms Henry found herself immersed in the world of service dog training by addressing one person, one dog, one obstacle and one solution at a time.

After many years of providing assistance to local service dog teams, Ms Henry had people with disabilities contacting her for advice and seeking her gifted and natural ability to understand the needs of owners and their dogs. As the number of owner-trained service dog teams receiving her assistance rapidly grew from 1 to 7, Ms. Henry decided to form an organization that would empower people, four paws at a time. DSD has provided support to more than 30 owner-trained service dog teams to date.