BERGER IN THE COMMUNITY: PAWS NAME A LITTER

PAWS With a Cause was founded in 1979 by Michael D. Sapp Sr. and Antoinette (Candye) Sapp and was initially named Ears for the Deaf. PAWS began when Michael agreed to help his friends Marty Jansen and his wife, Dianne. Both Marty and Dianne were deaf and had recently adopted a young deaf child. Mike would go on to train their Cairn Terrier, Crystal, to alert them to important sounds such as their baby crying. Shortly after they would be commissioned by others in their community to train more dogs.

Today, PAWS With A Cause is a West Michigan non-profit that enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities through custom-trained Assistance Dogs. PAWS is a leader in the assistance dog industry and they continue to increase awareness of the rights and roles of Assistance Dog Teams through their educational opportunities and advocacy.

Assistance Dogs help individuals with disabilities complete essential tasks such as opening doors, picking up objects, and alerting the individual to sounds. PAWS breeds and custom-trains each dog for their client’s specific needs. They currently train Assistance Dogs for people with physical disabilities, hearing loss, seizures, and autism.

After our last visit with PAWS we just couldn’t get enough puppy snuggles! We recently had the opportunity to meet some of our Berger-sponsored litter of Paws With A Cause puppies! Golden Retriever mama, Butters, gave birth to 10 healthy puppies on New Year’s Day! These pups will be fostered, trained, and eventually go on to their FURever home as an Assistance or Facility Dog. 

The foster puppy raisers will choose from a Bergerized-list when naming each puppy! Names on the Bergerized list are Chevy, Blazer, Trax, Bolt, Sparky, Vega, Chevelle, Cruze, Monte, Hitch, Bumper, Fender, and Diesel.

If you’re interested in learning more about PAWS, fostering a puppy, or volunteering, click here.

Paws With a Cause Berger Litter