Service and Guide/Hearing Dogs

The Hero Dog Awards® celebrate dogs whose training and dedication makes everyday life more accessible.

Service dogs not only improve the lives of the people with whom they work but also keep them safe every day. Service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They can be trained to work with people with physical mobility needs or limitations or people who need alerts to medical conditions. They can also serve as the “eyes and ears” for the blind and/or deaf or perform tasks for those with psychiatric disabilities such as Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

These specially trained dogs can even help by retrieving or manipulating objects that are out of their handler’s reach, alerting bystanders and retrieving help for their handler, leading while avoiding distractions and obstacles, and many other individual tasks as needed by a person with a disability.

Thank you to Waymo for sponsoring the service and guide / hearing category.