Canine Helpers are often in need of suitable dogs for training as Assistance Dogs.  Unfortunately, not all dogs are suitable.  If you are considering selling your pet, or are involved in breeding or dog rescue, then please consider giving your dog the best life possible by donating it to Canine Helpers. Below are some guidelines as to Canine Helpers' requirements for dogs.

Canine Helpers accepts both pups and adult dogs.

Puppy Guidelines

• We will accept puppies up to 4 months in age.
• Pups must be from parents of sound temperament and excellent health.
• Hip Scoring of parents and testing for other relevant genetic conditions is highly desirable, but we will accept pups from non-tested parents provided that there is some evidence that the risk of puppy developing a problem is low.
• We accept Pure-bred and Crossbred pups. Breeds considered are listed below.

Adult Dog Guidelines

• Adult dogs donated must be at least one year old and no more than three (3) years old.
• Adult dogs must be currently located in South East Queensland.
• Adult dogs must be basically healthy
• Dogs must display a love of humans and absolutely no aggression at all.
• Dogs must get on acceptably well with other dogs and with cats.
• Most of our dogs need to possess a retrieve drive.
• All adult dogs will be desexed by Canine Helpers if not done before by the owner.
• Canine Helpers are able to get an excellent price for desexing, so we would prefer to do this at our clinic than to reimburse you for the cost. Please contact us before doing any vet work on the dog you are considering donating.
• Adult dogs do not need to have any obedience training but it is an advantage.
• Dogs must be confident and not scared of anything.
• Dogs must be either motivated by food or a toy.
• Dogs with major behaviour problems, such as barking, chewing etc are not suitable.
• Ex-show dogs are often excellent candidates as they are well socialised.
• Canine Helpers considers many breeds, not just Labradors and Golden Retrievers. For a full list of breeds considered, please see below:
• 99% of our dogs are medium to large size. (There are a couple of breeds listed below which are exceptions to this.)

Breeds Considered

Canine Helpers will temperament test any breed of Gundog, as well as some other breeds. The Gundog group includes:

• Spaniels (Cocker, English and American; Springer, English and Welsh; Sussex; Clumber; Field; Irish Water)
• Pointers
• German Short and Wire-haired Pointers
• Setters (English; Irish; Gordon; Irish Red & White)
• Weimaraners
• Hungarian Vizlas
• Brittanies
• Munsterlanders
• Retrievers (Golden; Labrador; Curly-Coated; Flat-Coated; Duck Tolling; Chesapeake Bay)
• Italian Spinone
• Lagotto Ramgnolo

Other Breeds considered are:

• Standard Poodles
• Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
• German Shepherd Dogs
• Bermese Mountain Dogs
• Dobermans
• Border Collies (purebred only)
• Rough or Smooth Collies (purebred only)

We will also look at crossbred dogs of these breeds, especially if both breeds in the cross are listed above. The exceptions to this are border collie and rough and smooth collies, of which we will only accept purebreds.

We will generally not consider (without special circumstances):

Purebred or Crossbred:

• Kelpies
• Dingos
• Australian Cattle Dogs (i.e. Blue or Red Heelers)
• Bull Terriers
• Staffordshire Bull Terriers
• American Staffordshire Terriers
• American Pit Bull Terriers
• Hounds of any sort. (Although we highly recommend Greyhounds from the Greyhound Adoption Program as companion dogs.)

If you are really keen to donate a dog, but your dog's breed is not listed here (in either the considered list or not-considered list) then please give us a call. Be aware that we generally do not accept toy dogs as we mostly need larger types.

Adult dogs must be located within driving distance of Brisbane for viewing before making a decision. Pups may be accepted from interstate if references are provided as to the quality of the pup. We will interview you over the phone to find out more about your dog before making a decision.

Please note that just because the breed of you dog is listed here it doesn't mean that he will automatically be accepted into the program.  Many dogs are tested and not many pass.  If you have a puppy for donation that fits the above criteria then we will do everything we can to accept it provided we have enough space at the time.  Puppies do not undergo the same stringent temperament test as adult dogs because most of their adult behaviour will depend on the raising that we give them. Therefore, more pups are accepted.

All dogs are accepted on a trial basis and regardless of the age of the dog, Canine Helpers will only accept a dog if you are willing to sign an agreement that you will accept the dog back if he is found to be unsuitable.  If you would not be in a position to accept a dog back we will not be able to trial your dog in our program.

If you are a registered breeder of purebred dogs and you would like to partner with Canine Helpers to provide pup/s on a regular or one-off basis, we would love to hear from you.