South Dakota Service Dogs

03/08/2026

✨ *Join Us for an Amazing Ride on June 6th!* ✨

Mark your calendars and get ready to hit the road! The first 50 riders will receive an exclusive ride pin!
Don’t miss out on this chance to ride with fellow enthusiasts and earn a special keepsake. Spread the word and see you there!

03/01/2026

Something powerful is happening at South Dakota Service Dogs.

Meet our newest teams:

⭐️ George & Kenzie
⭐️ Joshua & Honey Bear
⭐️ Corina & Penni
⭐️ Clayton & Tilly

These aren’t just adorable puppies.

These are future service dogs.
These are partners in healing.
These are lifelines in the making.

In less than 24 hours, one of our new handlers shared with me that he already feels something changing inside him.

That’s the power of connection.
That’s the beginning of healing.
That’s why we do this.

At South Dakota Service Dogs, we provide more than a service dog.

We provide wraparound support.
We provide guidance.
We provide understanding.

When someone joins our program, they become part of the SDSD family — and that support doesn’t end at placement. They are never walking this journey alone.

And moments like this don’t happen alone either.

This placement was made possible through the collaboration of The Hero Company and Pulling Guard Kennels, Inc And because of the sponsorship from Rocky Mountain Warrior Foundation
one of these puppies is fully funded — ensuring access and support for this team as they begin their journey together.

This is partnership.
This is sponsorship in action.
This is our mission at work.

New handlers.
New puppies.
New beginnings.

And this is how lives change.

02/26/2026

🎉🐾 FOUR NEW SDSD TEAMS GRADUATED THIS WEEK! 🐾🎉

Please join us in celebrating:

✨ Dustin & Teddy
✨ Levi & Roy
✨ Jesse & Pickles
✨ Ed & Basilio

These partnerships represent months and months of training and commitment — discipline, growth, and trust built one day at a time. Graduation isn’t just a milestone. It’s the result of consistent work, public access hours, task mastery, and the powerful bond between handler and dog.

SDSD could not do this work without the support of our community, private donations, and sponsors. Because of you, more veterans and first responders are gaining independence, stability, and hope.

But today — we celebrate these teams.

Congratulations to each of you on this incredible achievement. You earned this. 🐾🇺🇸

02/19/2026

🚨ATTENTION!!!🚨

Behind every successful nonprofit is a team of people quietly making bold decisions.

South Dakota Service Dogs is expanding our Board of Directors — and we’re looking for leaders with experience, passion, and commitment.

Our Board members help guide the mission, strengthen the organization financially, support fundraising efforts, and ensure we continue serving Veterans and First Responders with excellence.

This is an opportunity to:

• Help shape the future of SDSD
• Make a tangible difference in our community
• Use your leadership to serve those who have served us

We’re not looking for names on a letterhead.

We’re looking for committed leaders who are ready to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

If that’s you — or someone you know — we invite you to apply.

🔗 Apply here: https://forms.gle/vFNKwQGJTd18y2vM6

Together, we can build something that lasts and continue this incredible mission.

02/09/2026

We are incredibly grateful to the South Dakota Mines Veterans Club for hosting a chili cook-off and choosing to donate $900 to South Dakota Service Dogs.

This kind of support means more than we can put into words. Every dollar raised helps us continue our mission of training service dogs for veterans and first responders. It directly impacts real people, real families, and the dogs who walk beside them every day.

To the Mines Veterans Club and everyone who cooked, attended, and donated—thank you for believing in our mission and standing with our veterans and first responders. Your support helps us change lives, one partnership at a time. ❤️🐾

01/30/2026

Big cheers for our teams who tested this week! 🎉🐾

We’re excited to celebrate five incredible teams who passed testing and advanced to their next phases! This takes patience, teamwork, and a lot of heart from the handlers, dogs, and the trainers supporting them every step of the way.

• Allison, Carter & Rex — Phase 3
• Matt & Ember — Phase 2
• Alan & Sheba — Phase 3
• Kelley & Draco — Phase 3
• Dustin & Teddy — Phase 3

Every milestone matters, and these teams earned theirs. We’re so proud of the dedication, growth, and teamwork shown by each of you.

Congratulations to all! 💛🐕‍🦺🎓

01/19/2026

🎓 We started the New Year off with a BANG… with FOUR SDSD teams graduating last week! 🎉🐾

It takes months of training, consistency, patience, and trust to get to this point… and that commitment comes from everyone involved: the handlers, the dogs, and the trainers who show up day after day, even when it’s hard.

Every one of these teams has their own story — and some of those stories are truly incredible. 💛

Please help us celebrate these amazing SDSD graduates:

✨ Tonya & Jet 🐾
✨ Lisa & Remi 🐾
✨ Holly & Shadow 🐾
✨ Allison & Bug 🐾

We are SO proud of each team and the work it took to earn this moment.
Congratulations, graduates — you did it! 🐕‍🦺🎓👏

12/16/2025

One of our very own teams, Levi and Roy are featured by The Hero Company! This incredible organization has come full circle in its support of South Dakota Service Dogs—standing behind our mission in so many meaningful ways. We are truly honored and deeply grateful that they not only support us, but see our mission, share it, and celebrate it.

Meet Levi, a U.S. Air Force veteran who dedicated six years to counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism. The weight of that mission followed him home — sleepless nights, constant vigilance, and the feeling of always being “on.”

Then came Roy. 🐾
Now a year into training with South Dakota Service Dogs, Roy helps Levi find calm, rest, and reassurance that he’s never alone.

Every bracelet, every purchase from Hero Company helps make partnerships like theirs possible — restoring peace to those who’ve given everything for ours. ❤️

12/12/2025

🎁 'Tis the Season for Giving 🎁
We're giving back 🌟$1,000 🌟 to a local non-profit in the Black Hills this December!
This is your chance to nominate a non-profit organization that is near and dear to your heart! ❤️
1️⃣ NOMINATE your favorite local non-profit in the comments.
2️⃣ SHARE this post to help spread the word.

12/09/2025

Please help us celebrate something truly special - 💙🐾
Every single SDSD handler/dog team passed their testing — every.single.one!

For most, you see the finished moment: a dog in a vest, a team moving confidently, a handler smiling with relief. What you don’t see are the months of work behind it —the long days, the setbacks, the breakthroughs, the courage to keep showing up, even when it is hard.

You don’t see the handlers fighting for independence, safety, healing, hope and fighting through days that are hard to even show up. You don’t see the trainers giving their hearts to this work —teaching, guiding, encouraging, adapting, and believing in every single team, even on the days when progress feels painfully slow.

None of this is easy. But every bit of it is worth it.

➡️ And we want to say this clearly, because it matters: THIS is what your support makes possible.

When you donate, sponsor, or even simply share our posts —you are helping someone reclaim their life.
You are helping a handler breathe easier, sleep safer, live fuller. You are helping a dog change someone’s world.

We are changing lives — one day, one handler, one dog at a time.

Today, we celebrate not just a passing score —but the strength, heart, and partnership it took to get here.

Please join us in congratulating these incredible teams:

⭐️ Omar and Willow 🐾 CGC-U
⭐️ Ernest and Sirona 🐾CGC
⭐️ Holly and Shadow 🐾 Phase 3
⭐️ Levi and Roy 🐾 Phase 3
⭐️ Allison and Bug 🐾 Phase 3
⭐️ Ed and Basilio 🐾 Phase 3
⭐️ Sid and George 🐾 CGC
⭐️ Stephen and Renna 🐾 CGC-U
⭐️ Doug and Micha 🐾 CGC

11/22/2025

Come on down to our training facility and get some pics with Santa!!! 🎅🏻

Bring the dogs, bring the kids!!!