Monday, September 22, 2008

About Us


East Coast Assistance Dogs is a nonprofit organization where our mission is to train and place Assistance Dogs to help people with disabilities gain independence and mobility.

A unique feature about ECAD is that all of the dogs we place are trained by adolescents attending alternative schools and the campuses of residential treatment centers. The ECADemy© program takes place in five facilities in lower New York, all of which specialize in helping children with emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. Through the ECADemy© program, working with the dogs helps even the most difficult children establish a sense of self worth, master their tempers, and learn to trust again.


The benefits work both ways, though. Thanks to the inexhaustible energy, dedication, enthusiasm, and creativity of the teen trainers, ECAD is able to produce a high number of extremely well-trained, well-socialized, highly skilled Assistance Dogs. The students and clients also learn a lot from each other, and not just about training dogs! ECAD would like to recognize its ECADemy partners:

·The Children's Village and Greenburgh Eleven USFD in Dobbs Ferry, NY
·Green Chimneys in Brewster, NY
·mercyFirst in Syosset, NY
·The Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in Hawthorne and the Bronx, NY

Please visit our website for more about us!