SSD’s Astronaut Puppies Launch Their Service Dog Journey

The seven puppies in Susquehanna Service Dogs’ Astronaut Litter have launched their journey to becoming service dogs! SSD Heide Piper (Heide), SSD Wendy Lawrence (Wendy), SSD Suni Williams (Suni), SSD John Glenn (Glenn), SSD Alan Shepard (Shepard), SSD James Lovell (Lovell), and SSD Neil Armstrong (Armstrong) are with their puppy raisers.

Each small step they take brings them closer to becoming service dogs, and they couldn’t reach their destination without their puppy raisers. For 15-18 months, raisers teach their puppy good house manners, proper behavior in public, and 25 different cues. Our raisers give the dogs the solid foundation they need to become working dogs.

Become a puppy raiser today and help a puppy’s small steps become a giant leap for someone’s independence! 

Susquehanna Service Dogs (SSD) is a nonprofit program of Keystone Human Services that raises, trains, and places service dogs to assist men, women, and children with disabilities to become more independent. Since 1993, SSD has placed over 260 dogs in Pennsylvania and the surrounding states. Service dogs can be trained to assist with mobility issues, autism, and psychiatric disabilities. SSD also trains hearing dogs and service dogs for military veterans. Each dog is individually trained based on the person's unique needs. Fully accredited by Assistance Dogs International, Susquehanna Service dogs relies on donations from generous donors.

For more information about Susquehanna Service Dogs, visit www.keystonehumanservices.org/ssd.