It takes a community to support a service dog team.

Help us build a community that understands, welcomes, and advocates for veterans and their service dogs.

Become a Paws 4 Liberty Community Partner

Building a More Service Dog & Veteran-Informed Community

Supporting veterans with service dogs goes far beyond training the dog and handler. It also means creating a community that understands how to appropriately welcome, interact with, and advocate for service dog teams.

The Paws 4 Liberty Community Partners Program is an educational outreach initiative designed to give local businesses, organizations, facilities, staff members, and volunteers a better understanding of service dogs, disability access, and the veterans who rely on them.

Through an educational class led by the Paws 4 Liberty team, participants learn about service dog etiquette, appropriate interactions with working dogs and their handlers, common misconceptions surrounding service dogs, and how businesses and community members can help create more informed and welcoming environments for veterans with disabilities.

What You'll Learn

Community Partner education includes topics such as:

What a service dog is—and what it isn't
The role service dogs can play in a veteran's daily life
Proper etiquette around working service dogs
Appropriate ways to interact with service dog handlers
Understanding public access and the questions businesses may legally ask
Recognizing common misconceptions surrounding service dogs
How to appropriately handle challenging or uncertain situations
How your organization can become an advocate for veterans and legitimate service dog teams

More Than a Class—It's Community Advocacy

When your team participates in the Community Partners Program, you're helping us build a network of informed community members who understand that accessibility isn't simply about allowing a service dog through the door. It's about creating an environment where veterans with disabilities can participate in their communities with greater independence, dignity, and confidence.

Participants who complete the educational class become part of our growing network of Paws 4 Liberty Community Partners and Service Dog Advocates.

Whether you're a local business, nonprofit, healthcare facility, first responder agency, community organization, hospitality team, or another group that regularly interacts with the public, we'd love to bring the Community Partners Program to you.