Guide Dogs of America
Guide Dogs of America and Tender Loving Canines transforms lives through partnerships with service dogs. We breed, raise, and train guide dogs for individuals who are blind/visually impaired and service dogs for veterans and children with autism. We also place facility dogs with professionals in hospitals, schools, and courtrooms. Our highly skilled canines become trusted companions that increase people’s confidence, mobility, and independence. All programs and services, including transportation, personalized training, room/board, and postgraduate support, are provided at no cost to the recipient.
What We Do
Located on a beautiful 7.5-acre campus in Los Angeles, Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines serves a diverse range of individuals from the U.S. and Canada. Our mission is to transform lives through partnerships with service dogs.
While many of us know the pleasure of our family pets, we relish the opportunity to facilitate a meaningful and productive relationship between our clients and their service dog.
All of us at GDA | TLC greatly enjoy our work, and we’re grateful for our donors and volunteers’ generous support that changes the lives of so many.
Our Services:
> Professional training
> Personalized instruction
> Air and ground transportation to and from our school
> Room and board for in-residence training
> Delicious meals prepared by our professional chef
> Veterinary services are available to graduate teams on campus
> Specialized guide dog harness or service dog vest
> Extensive post-graduate support services
Team Success
Our objective is not only to provide excellent service dogs and quality instruction but also to strive to maintain the true success of a team – longevity. Finding the right partner, forming a strong bond, and maintaining a solid support system are the keys to a successful service dog team. Our 7.5 acre campus in Southern California is home to all of our programs. Support for the lifetime of the team are available for each graduated team at no cost. Here are just some of the services we offer:
> A professionally trained, highly qualified, expertly matched service dog
> Personalized instruction in how to care for and work with their service dog
> Public transportation to and from our school
> Room and board during the 1 to 3-week in-residence training program
> Veterinary care at our on-campus clinic
> Extensive post-graduate support services
> Training follow-up sessions
> Boarding Services
Personalized Training
Our trainers are experts at pairing students with the right canine partner, with special consideration given to their personalities and unique characteristics, work and home environments, physical abilities, and a variety of other factors.
While on campus, our students enjoy private rooms in our dormitory, three meals a day in our dining room, and many state-of-the-art amenities. Our program covers training in a wide variety of locations. As the instructors train the teams to work together, they learn to trust and rely on one another and develop a relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation.
Training for the visually impaired includes a 21-day in-residence training program. Training for Veterans, Individuals with Autism and Facilities include a 3-week online instruction, followed by a 10-day in-residence training program
Accreditation
The International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) is the industry-elected body responsible for the development, monitoring and evaluation of the standards applied within all IGDF-member organizations, and to which all Enquiring and Applicant organizations aspire, in order to ensure equity of high-quality service to guide dog users and Handlers around the world.
Raise a puppy. Change a life.
Guide dog and service dog puppies are placed with carefully screened foster families and individuals, known as “puppy raisers,” when they are 8 weeks old, learning proper house manners, basic obedience, and providing experiences that will give them confidence in the world during the first year of their life. At any given time, we have 150-200 puppies in homes.
Puppy Raising volunteers are an essential part of our training program at Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines. Every successful guide dog and service dog team had a Puppy Raiser who gave them plenty of love, taught them basic skills and provided experiences to allow them to feel safe in the world.
An Abundance of Support
Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines provides plenty of support to our puppy raising volunteers, including group cohorts of fellow puppy raisers, structured training with our professional staff, behavioral support, and on-site veterinary care, the entire GDA | TLC team is rooting for each puppy’s success.
The Foundation
To ensure proper socialization, puppies-in-training cannot be left alone in the beginning for extended periods of time. Puppy raisers must have permission from their employers to bring the dogs to work, or committed family member who will work with the puppy during the day. We welcome puppy raisers from all lifestyles whether they are families, couples or singles. Homes can be houses, condos or apartments, and can have well-mannered resident pets as well.
Southern California
Our puppy-raising program is primarily limited to Southern California, with active groups in Santa Clarita Valley, San Fernando Valley, West LA, Ventura, Simi Valley, Pasadena, Glendora, Inland Empire, Long Beach, Torrance, Huntington Beach, Orange County, and multiple locations in San Diego. We are also developing a puppy program in Southern Oregon.
Volunteer
Volunteering is a great way to contribute to Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines. Volunteers are an essential component of this school. You make us successful in ultimately matching service dogs to people in need!
Volunteer contributions – sometimes sacrifices – to Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines don’t go unnoticed.
If you are interested in volunteering at Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canine’s facility, be sure that you are located close to our school here in Sylmar, California for your own convenience.
If you wish to volunteer for Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines, fill in and submit the application online or print it to send in by mail. The Volunteer Coordinator will contact you with volunteer opportunities.
Contact Guide Dogs of America:
Guide Dogs of America/Tender Loving Canines
Headquarters
13445 Glenoaks Boulevard
Sylmar, CA 91342
Phone: (818) 362-5834
or (800) 459-4843
Fax: (818) 362-6870
Email: mail@guidedogsofamerica.org
We are an Assistance Dogs International accredited organization. All of our dogs are trained to ADI standards for public access and service dog cues, and we follow ADI guidelines for placement of our dogs.
Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, tax identification #95-1586088.
