We would love to share more about Susquehanna Service Dogs' mission, and how our assistance dogs changes lives and encourage your group or community to consider joining us by volunteering!

Please read the descriptions below to determine which type of engagement best suits your needs. Our Ambassador Dog teams that participate in the Demonstration and Meet & Greet program are volunteers, so while we do our best to fill requests, at times we must ask you to choose a date farther in the future.

If you have questions regarding the information below, please contact Mel Harry at mharry@khs.org.

General requirements:

• Requests are evaluated to ensure they complement our mission. We do not engage in fundraising events for the benefit of other organizations.
• Requests should be submitted a minimum of 2 months prior to the event. While we try to accommodate as many requests as possible, our capacity is limited and our calendar fills quickly.
• Locations must be within an hour’s drive of Harrisburg, PA area. (Limited opportunities are available in the Philadelphia and State College area based on team availability.)

What is a Demonstration? A Demonstration is an educational opportunity that includes an Ambassador Dog Team that presents to a group, sharing information about SSD’s mission, types of assistance dogs, how they assist individuals with disabilities, and assistance dog etiquette. Our Ambassador Dog handlers enjoy having time for questions from the audience and time to interact with participants either before or after their presentation.

On occasion, and based on availability, additional Ambassador Dog Teams may be available to attend.

• Group size should be a minimum of 15 individuals.
• The majority of audience members must be at least 10 years old. Minors must have adult supervision. We are unable to accommodate groups of children younger than 10.
• Demonstration presentation length should be a minimum of 20 minutes and not longer than 1 hour. We have found that allowing additional Q&A time of at least 10 minutes is valuable for participants along with mingling time prior to or following the demonstration.
• We ask for either a monetary or in-kind donation at the discretion of the requestor. 

What is a Meet and Greet: A Meet and Greet typically includes multiple Ambassador Dog Teams and/or assistance-dogs-in-training and their Puppy Raisers attending an event by having a table or station and being available to interact with attendees and share information about assistance dogs as well as SSD’s mission and need for volunteers.

• If a Meet and Greet is for a community event, no donation is required, but we ask for any entrance fee to be waived. 
• If the Meet and Greet is for a business, school, community group, etc., a monetary or in-kind donation is requested based on the discretion of the requestor.

Do you offer Puppy Socialization (formerly Puppy Hugging) events? Depending on available litters, we occasionally offer opportunities for companies, organizations, etc. to host a Puppy Socialization Event. These events require a minimum donation of $2,500 and include parameters on the number of attendees and required rest periods for the puppies. For more information, please email Mel Harry at mharry@khs.org, and you will be connected with a member of our Development Team.