Amazon is No Longer Smiling… but Pawsitive Teams Can Be! With AmazonSmile shuttering its doors in February 2023, we thought we’d remind you of seven ways you can help us make up the funds we won’t be receiving from Amazon anymore. Thank you! Your support will keep us smiling. SAN…
By Carol Davis Pawsitive Teams Co-Founder The most frequently asked question service dog trainers hear is, “How can you give them up?” For 25 years, my answer has been, “It’s like with your kids. They grow up and move out of the house, but they’re still very much part of your…
By Charli King Co-founder, Service Dog Trainer From hot weather in the summer to cold weather in the winter, you may want to use your home as your training field! Training in your home can be effective for therapy, facility, or service dogs. It’s full of tools you can use.…
By Marilyn Davis Pawsitive Teams Volunteer Like pebbles thrown into still water, Pawsitive Teams’ dogs spread comfort….ripples in a pond. In each newsletter, we’ll share one of their stories in the Comfort Corner. Today I’m puppysitting Pawsitive Teams’s youngest service dog-in-training, six-month-old chocolate lab, Wilson. He runs around the house…
By Barbara McKown Therapy Dog Program Manager 2023 IS OFF TO A GREAT START! Our January Prep School class was full, and several people indicated they are interested in our Goal Directed Therapy programs. The first Therapy Dog Team evaluation was done in early February and seven teams passed the…
OUR TEAM: If you’re interested in seeing who we are behind the scenes, here’s our organizational chart. As you can see, our part-time staff is joined by many volunteers who have expertise in a wide variety of areas. If you would like to help fill in the blanks by providing…
As part of our 25th Anniversary celebration, we’ve created a series of short video interviews with 25 members of the Pawsitive Teams family. Our first video features a mobility service dog team, Allie Kelly & Kenji. Allie just signed the Ownership Agreement and now Kenji is officially hers. They’ve both…
Surf Dog Ricochet balances boards… and lives! She’s the only SURFice dog® on the planet who provides canine-assisted surf therapy and healing to empower, enhance and improve the quality of life for individuals with physical, cognitive, or emotional challenges. She is a registered therapy dog through the Alliance of Therapy…
The American Kennel Club (AKC) created Rally in 2005 to be a fun family sport. Today, Rally competitions are held throughout the country. It is considered a team sport offering a way challenge you and your dog. Here’s how the AKC describes Rally: You and your dog navigate a course,…
Pawsitive Teams Celebrates its 25th Year Think back to 1997, if you were even born:-) Two women, Carol Davis and Charli King, in the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood of San Diego, were puppy raisers for a local service dog training organization. They would spend many, many months working with and…
A social dog that likes people and other dogs is the short answer. Can a rescue dog become a therapy dog? Yes! Another short answer. How can I make sure my dog is social and likes people and other dogs? Now we’re getting to the long answers. Whether…
Have people often told you your dog is so sweet that it should be a therapy dog? Have you ever wondered what’s involved in actually doing that sort of volunteer work with your dog? Pawsitive Teams has been offering Therapy Dog Preparation School (Prep School for short) just for folks…
On November 18th, 2021 a litter of puppies was born to mother Maya at Bennett Goldens here in San Diego. Twins are incredibly rare in that they share the same amniotic sac. Pawsitive Teams was slated to bring on one male puppy, but due to the fact…
By Barry Neichin, DVM Pawsitive Teams’ Director of Veterinary Medicine It’s a beautiful weekend in San Diego. A typical summer day. I’ve been at work all day and hoping to leave work as scheduled and catch some sun by the pool this afternoon. Just as I am about to…
by Eileen Heveron, Executive Director As everyone knows, in this day and age there are many organizations—both for profit and not for profit—that provide service dogs to individuals with a wide variety of disabilities. Donors would like to know what sets Pawsitive Teams and other worthy organizations apart from the…
Cofounder Charli King with Kudos, Carli, Stanley, and Ollie I have raised and trained quite a few service dogs since 1997. Each one included plenty of laughter, doubts, even tears. When you are with these pups twenty-four hours a day, you learn from each other … basic things…
October 27, 2021
Charli King and I started Pawsitive Teams (PT) in 1997 after being introduced to the world of service dogs while puppy raising for two different service dog organizations. We both embraced the concept but wanted to have more contact with those receiving these well-trained dogs and we also wanted to…