Our passion lies in empowering independence by providing
free of charge,
customized, expertly trained service dogs.
Head and Heart Service Dogs selects, trains, and places highly advanced Service Dogs to assist physically and mentally disabled people. We bring our philosophy of Head (intelligence) and Heart (empathy) into every aspect of our method, from the selection and training of both our dogs and people to the placement and continued care of our dog recipients, ensuring that the welfare of every dog and person is our top priority.
The Story behind the name
When we began the truly epic journey of training and placing Service Dogs, we decided to do something different. We wanted to approach finding our dogs in a new way. But how can we find suitable dogs to take on the immense responsibility of being a Service Dog? How can we choose from an ocean of pups? What are we looking for? The answer soon became very clear: Head and Heart! The Head is the intelligence, problem-solving, focus, and communication skills. While these are incredible attributes, they are not enough to make a Service Dog. They also need Heart, the courage to be calm in any situation, the drive to do anything their person needs, and most importantly, incredible empathy; such empathy that they can and will perform tasks without needing to be told because that bond has grown so strong. So when people ask us how we train such amazing animals, we smile and say it was the dogs all along, their Head and Heart.
We use relationship-based training using advanced positive reinforcement, which emphasizes creating connections and communication instead of commands and demands. Head and Heart was born in this training style and continues to advance its methodologies daily.
We can use this approach to teach authentic communication between humans and dogs, reading and reacting instantaneously. This allows us to create a foundation upon which any and all advanced skills and tasks a recipient may need can be easily taught.
The Service Dogs that graduate from our program are not only able to go on task swiftly and proficiently, responding to their human’s requests, but are also capable of making independent action. Our Service Dogs read and anticipate their human’s needs so that our dogs and dog recipients can live their best lives possible as a Service Dog team.
“Training Service dogs requires experience and patience, and is difficult anywhere, let alone in a city like New York. Tyler and Jeff showed up every week to not only train the dogs but also correct the issues that would arise from the chaotic city environment. They did so with diligence and kindness both to us and the dogs.“
Yarin and Jordan
Chief Executive Officer
Head Trainer
Chief Marketing Officer
