No formal training. No work history.
No one believed they could do this.
Women in rural India are raising and training assistance and therapy dogs - and changing their own lives in the process.
Pallavi and Jin - the beginning of something.
They had never worked before. HeartDogs changed that.
Our foster-trainers are women in the villages where we work - women who showed interest, commitment, and a natural aptitude for this work. Most had no prior experience with formal employment. The programme was not designed around them - it emerged from them.
Kirsten with the women of Cohort 1 in Karnataka.
Each woman raises one dog, from puppyhood to placement.
A foster-trainer takes in a puppy and raises it as part of her household - providing the consistency, care, and daily training that turns a street dog into a working animal. Under structured guidance, she follows a documented protocol and tracks the dog's progress every step of the way.
Padma leading a catch-up session - nothing left to chance.
A skilled role. A regular income. On their own terms.
Every foster-trainer receives a regular income for the duration of the dog's training. The work is close to home - no commute, no migration, no uprooting. When a dog moves on to its new home, she raises the next one. The income continues. The skills grow.
Proud Girijamma with Zuri. Her proper first job.
Something harder to measure - but impossible to miss.
The income matters. But what these women describe is something beyond money - a sense of capability, of doing work that matters, of walking with their heads held high. The programme does not just change their financial situation. It changes how they see themselves.