A Better Life is Possible.
For people with disabilities. For women in rural India. For rescued Indie dogs.
HeartDogs brings them together through assistance and therapy dogs.
HeartDogs trains rescued Indie dogs as assistance and therapy dogs for people with disabilities and the institutions that support them. Women in rural India foster and train the dogs as paid foster-trainers.
Each woman spends months fostering and training her dog, building the skills and relationship needed to prepare it for its working role. The goal: helping people with disabilities live better lives.
Eight rescued Indies. Eight women training them.
They're already on the journey. Months of food, veterinary care, training and foster-trainer time go into preparing each dog for a working role.
Help keep Cohort 1 moving →
Where would you like to start?
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.