Welcome To Mobility Service Dogs Solutions for Movement & Owning the Abilities in Disability!

Mobility Service Dogs - West Coast Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that raises and trains service dogs, support handlers through education and advocacy, while providing weekly virtual meetings for our community of trainers, puppy raisers, and handlers.

<em>Welcome To Mobility Service Dogs</em> Solutions for Movement & Owning the Abilities in Disability!

CLICK & WATCH MobilityDog Tales: A DOGumentary

Take a journey into the world of MobilityDog as we celebrate the stories of service dogs and their handlers living with mobility disabilities. We hope you watch and share to help us shine a spotlight on these remarkable humans and canines.

MobilityDog = wings to live your life

Come and meet the MobilityDog Community! Click Here

Community Programs: A Board Member Leads a "PAWS That Empower" workshop

The PAWS that Empower program has given us the opportunity to educate kids about the importance of equality for all, and covering topics such as Tolerance, Kindness, Compassion, Integrity, Gratitude, and Empathy.

Donations support our Service Dog Teams

The MobilityDog Community supports our community in designing pathways to FUNctional independence. We are present to laugh and cry as we walk each other home. 100% of your donation supports the service dog program and people with disabilities on their journey surrounded with love and sunshine. Donate Here

🧠💡“TAB” — Temporarily Able-Bodied — is a simple, powerful reminder that ability can change in an instant. Carlos Benavides shared this insight with MobilityDog.Org, and it stuck. Thank you, Carl (1).png

**Together, We’re All Able – Celebrate A.R.F!**

**JOIN US!** **MobilityDog.org presents A.R.F.! 2025 – Accessibility Resource Fair**
**Pasadena City Hall** 100 Garfield Avenue, Pasadena, CA
Saturday, **May 3** | **11:30 AM – 3:30 PM**
**FREE** • ADA Parking • **E-Bike Raffle!**
The Rollettes Live at 1 PM Service Dogs • NO LIMIT Adapative Climbing Wall • Art by Pushrim Foundation Adaptive Bikes with RAMPITUP • Food & Ice Cream Trucks • FEMA Readiness for Evacuation Solutions Workshop • **35+ Resource Booths** including: MobilityDog’s PAWS & WAG • MobilityDog’s Training TIPS & Harnesses • Easterseals • Pasadena Village • Western Justice Center • Pasadena Senior Center • Rancho Los Amigos Wellness Center **AND MORE**
**Bring your family, friends, and neighbors—everyone is welcome!**
Let’s an epic accessible world where we all rise together. Let’s do it in style, with Paws, Passion, and Powerful community Love. Details: www.mobilitydog.org/poodlepalooza

**We are a commUNITY for our Handlers and Raisers to support one another on this journey for FUNctional independence.**

People with disabilities have to advocate for many things that non-disabled people take for granted. Our work is necessary to educate and empower all people with disabilities. We raise and train service dogs, support our Handlers throughout the Service Dog Team’s entire working life, educate the public, and actively advocate for the disabled. MobilityDog empowers equality for all people. Regardless of how society classifies us, we all want the ability to work, provide for our family, and follow our dreams. We are please to share that MobilityDog is an Assistant Dog International (ADI) Candidate Program.

Dear Angelenos,

MobilityDog is here for those who’ve lost their mobility devices due to fires, displacement, or denial. We support Service Dog Teams and people with disabilities and aging to help them regain their independence. If you need assistance, we’re here for you. Be Safe, Los Angeles! xxMobilityDog

Lonnie Saeger, a board member and friend, changed many lives, one dog at a time; we are honored to have worked side-by-side with Lonnie on many projects with MobilityDog as he taught each of us how to live and laugh more with his can-do, child-like energy we all embraced! October 30, 1953 to August 4, 2024

The Lonnie saeger memorial fund Donate here

Meet Our Founder

In 2010, our founder, Janie Lynn Heinrich, was involved in a freak accident at a grocery store resulting in a neurodegenerative spinal cord injury. Janie strived for FUNctional independence! Working with her Poodle, Occupational and Physical Therapists, and Service Dog Trainer Julie Gibbson, APDT IAADP, CA State Evaluator from Assistance Dogs of the Sierra, Janie & Phoebe became a service dog dream team; with Janie spending more time on her feet and less time in her TiLite manual wheelchair. In 2017, Phoebe turned ten; it would soon be time for her to retire. Janie needed a new service dog to continue her functional independence but met countless roadblocks and barriers in her attempts to secure a new dog because she was over 55. During this process, she learned of the numerous other individuals encountering similar roadblocks. In January 2018, with a new puppy by her side while training with Penny Scott-Fox, Mobility Service Dogs West Coast Project DBA MobilityDog was established, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising service dogs, supporting the community, and educating.

The nature of working with people is to understand it is a process; each day is different. We must accept the reality of medical conditions and step into each unique situation with the honor and knowledge they practice. A Service Dog (SD) is not for everyone, but the possibilities are endless for those with a living medical equipment/device. Each SD Team has its style and grace, living on its terms. We can only create a healthy mingling environment, a strong community. The sparkle and determination to live life make the best SD Handlers. (A handler is a person with a disability using the service dog as their medical equipment/device.)

The observations that embrace my heart and mind are we need to listen, observe, and be as present as the SD. The SD understands their handler regardless of their abilities on any given day as they pay attention to each cell. They intuitively know what task and pathway to keep everyone safe and moving while working together. We only need to listen, pay attention, and be present, as these incredible teams flourish.

In 2024, I learned a new acronym: 🧠💡“TAB” — Temporarily Able-Bodied — is a simple, powerful reminder that ability can change in an instant. Our SD Handler, Carlos Benavides, shared this insight with me, and it stuck. Thank you, Carlos, for the brilliant perspective shift. 🙏 Let’s build a world that works for everyone, not just for the moment we’re “able.”

MobilityDog’s quest is to put the FUN in FUNctional independence. With SD Beckett at my side, I am self-reliant. -Janie

Donate HEre

<
>

Mobility Service Dogs-West Coast Project DBA MobilityDog

An essential aspect of our service dog program that sets us apart is the community network we build for those with disabilities with or without a service dog. This network breaks the barriers of isolation facing many individuals living with disabilities.

words from our community and why we do what we do!

“We have learned to walk together as one unit, which gives me the confidence to live all of my life. My service dog makes it so I can fly to my grandchildren and live safely.”

— Dani

“My life changed after a devastating car accident 2018, leaving me a person with paraplegia. My life changed again, meeting my service dog, Baldwin; we go everywhere. He is my best friend and my service dog.”

—Alex

“The fact that you have created a community within. I need that so much. I don’t have very many friends because I am different, and I look forward to being a part of this beautiful community with my service dog.”

— June

Ready to get started?

MSD-WCP’s goal is to fill a desperate need: many people living with disabilities aren’t able to receive a mobility service dog because there aren’t enough of these trained dogs and they are too expensive. Our goal is to provide a service dog to all those who qualify. MSD-WCP is the ability in disability!

Apply For A Service Dog →

Get Involved →