Help save a dog, and save a life, by providing a preparatory home for a Disaster Search Dog candidate
(Please notes: At this time our Canine Prep Home program is limited to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.)

The dog’s stay in a Canine Prep Home is vital to the success of SDF’s mission of rescuing dogs, and saving lives. As soon as a dog is identified as a potential Disaster Search Dog, it is placed with a volunteer family in a Prep Home.  The candidates are young dogs (nine to eighteen months old) who come to us from rescue groups and shelters around the country. 

The Prep Home provides basic care, socialization, house manners and early exposure to disaster agility equipment and rubble. The dog stays in the Prep Home from two to twelve months depending on the dog’s age and readiness.

There is no typical Prep Home.  Some are large families—others are single adults.  Some are living on large farms—some in studio apartments.  But they have one thing in common: they all love dogs and want to offer a service to humanity.

The Search Dog Foundation provides the dogs with veterinary care, food and obedience class, and offers advice on caring for and working with a disaster search dog candidate.

The dog you care for may one day rescue someone you love…or you.

Caring for your SDF dog isn’t a one-person thing.  It’s like a town raising a child—you’ll be part of a Foundation raising a dog.”

—Linda Anderson, Prep Home Family

For more information, please contact Karen Klingberg, Program Manager (888) 4K9-HERO ext. 114.