A Better Life is Possible.
For people with disabilities. For women in rural India. For rescued Indie dogs.
HeartDogs brings those three lives together.
Millions of people with disabilities in India need support they don't have access to. At the same time, women in rural communities are looking for meaningful work, and millions of street dogs remain without homes.
What if, together, they could make a better life possible?
HeartDogs began with that simple question. Today, HeartDogs trains assistance and therapy dogs for people with disabilities and the institutions that support them. The dogs are rescued Indies, fostered and trained by women in rural India as paid foster-trainers.
Everything you need to know about HeartDogs.
How to get a HeartDog. How we work.
Apply for an assistance or therapy dog, learn how dogs are matched and trained, meet our foster-trainers, and understand how the programme works.
See the model →
Eight dogs. Eight women. Lives changing.
Meet the rescued dogs of Cohort 1, the women in rural India raising them, and the families, hospitals and communities already benefiting from their work.
Read the stories →
Cohort 1. The evidence. Our impact.
Explore Cohort 1 outcomes, the clinical evidence behind assistance and therapy dogs, and how HeartDogs contributes to six UN Sustainable Development Goals.
See the impact →
Assistance dogs. Therapy dogs. Indies.
Learn how assistance and therapy dogs support people with disabilities, how each dog is matched and trained, why we work with rescued Indies, and find answers to common questions.
Start learning →To convey sensitive topics with care and respect, some images on this page are either AI-generated or AI-edited.