New Organization "Puppies with Purpose" Raises Service Dogs at MU
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Dr. TerriAnn Tucker-Warhover is both an animal lover and a doctor of veterinary medicine. Last year, the University of Missouri graduate took her passion for animals a step further with the creation of a new on-campus organization.
Tucker-Warhover is the founder of Puppies with Purpose, a nonprofit organization that helps to raise and train future service dogs.
“I was looking for a change in career path … and I wanted to look into doing some other things, maybe in nonprofit work,” she said. “[This] would allow me to work with students and also doing veterinary medicine, as well as doing something that will help others.”
After much thought and research, Tucker-Warhover contacted an organization named Canine Helpers Allow More Possibilities, referred to as C.H.A.M.P.
C.H.A.M.P is a nonprofit organization that places service dogs with people who have disabilities. Located in St. Louis, they agreed to partner with Tucker-Warhover and Puppies with Purpose.
“I decided that I really liked the things that C.H.A.M.P does,” Tucker-Warhover said. “I like their dedication to education about the need for service dogs and how [they] can help out people with disabilities.”
C.H.A.M.P also has a unique way of training their future service dogs. The dogs are brought to local women’s correctional facilities, where the inmates train them.
With the confirmed partnership of C.H.A.M.P, Tucker-Warhover pitched her idea to the MU in January 2012, and was approved to start Puppies with Purpose on campus.
The organization got its first puppy last August, and the training began right away.
“The puppies start with Puppies with Purpose at eight weeks of age, and stay with us until four or five months of age,” Tucker-Warhover said. “At that time they go to the women’s prison in Vandalia for training.”
If a puppy passes its initial evaluations, it then goes back to Puppies with Purpose at MU and spends another six to eight weeks with the raisers. It returns to the prison afterward to learn tasks not taught in Puppies with Purpose.
This process continues until the puppies are placed at around two years of age.
Students can become involved in the organization in three ways. First, there are the volunteers who help set up fundraisers and other events.
Then, there are the puppy babysitters, who care for the puppy when necessary.
“Puppy babysitters have to attend a certain number of meetings every month,” Tucker-Warhover said. “We talk about training, health care and then we talk about special techniques that C.H.A.M.P wants us to work on.”
Finally, puppy raisers have 24/7 care of the puppies, except for the times the babysitter must step in.
Since August, Puppies with Purpose has come a long way. They currently have two dogs: Hershey and Dewey. Both dogs will be leaving to continue their training on May 2, 2013, at the Vandalia Women's Correctional Facility.
As a nonprofit organization, Puppies with Purpose must raise awareness in the community through any way possible in order to raise the funds needed to purchase new puppies and supplies.
“We are learning that there’s a shortage of service dogs right now, so I think it’s really important to raise money with them and let the cause be known,” Meghan Morin, an Alpha Delta Pi at MU, said.
However, these puppies can improve the lives of more people than just those with disabilities.
“I haven’t seen a single person where it didn’t grab their attention in some way,” Acacia member David Hinkle said. “As far as my reaction, I love puppies, I love dogs in general … It reminds me of my childhood.”
The organization was chosen to be a beneficiary of this year’s Greek Week, and worked closely with the sorority Alpha Delta Pi, as well as fraternities Delta Tau Delta and Acacia, to raise both money and awareness for the organization.
“They came out to the Greek Week fling skit ... and everyone was laughing and saying ‘aww’ to the cute dogs,” Delta Tau Delta fraternity member Rob Rice said.
Tucker-Warhover hopes that this exposure, as well as frequent visits to elementary schools around the community, will get more people interested in Puppies with Purpose and their cause.
“Our goal is to have a disability-conscious community, both on campus and in Columbia,” Tucker-Warhover said. “If [young] people are more aware of things, hopefully they’ll be more tolerant and more understanding of people who have disabilities.”
Although Puppies with Purpose is a new organization, they have made great strides this year to raise awareness around the community and at MU.
Tucker-Warhover is the founder of Puppies with Purpose, a nonprofit organization that helps to raise and train future service dogs.
“I was looking for a change in career path … and I wanted to look into doing some other things, maybe in nonprofit work,” she said. “[This] would allow me to work with students and also doing veterinary medicine, as well as doing something that will help others.”
After much thought and research, Tucker-Warhover contacted an organization named Canine Helpers Allow More Possibilities, referred to as C.H.A.M.P.
C.H.A.M.P is a nonprofit organization that places service dogs with people who have disabilities. Located in St. Louis, they agreed to partner with Tucker-Warhover and Puppies with Purpose.
“I decided that I really liked the things that C.H.A.M.P does,” Tucker-Warhover said. “I like their dedication to education about the need for service dogs and how [they] can help out people with disabilities.”
C.H.A.M.P also has a unique way of training their future service dogs. The dogs are brought to local women’s correctional facilities, where the inmates train them.
With the confirmed partnership of C.H.A.M.P, Tucker-Warhover pitched her idea to the MU in January 2012, and was approved to start Puppies with Purpose on campus.
The organization got its first puppy last August, and the training began right away.
“The puppies start with Puppies with Purpose at eight weeks of age, and stay with us until four or five months of age,” Tucker-Warhover said. “At that time they go to the women’s prison in Vandalia for training.”
If a puppy passes its initial evaluations, it then goes back to Puppies with Purpose at MU and spends another six to eight weeks with the raisers. It returns to the prison afterward to learn tasks not taught in Puppies with Purpose.
This process continues until the puppies are placed at around two years of age.
Students can become involved in the organization in three ways. First, there are the volunteers who help set up fundraisers and other events.
Then, there are the puppy babysitters, who care for the puppy when necessary.
“Puppy babysitters have to attend a certain number of meetings every month,” Tucker-Warhover said. “We talk about training, health care and then we talk about special techniques that C.H.A.M.P wants us to work on.”
Finally, puppy raisers have 24/7 care of the puppies, except for the times the babysitter must step in.
Since August, Puppies with Purpose has come a long way. They currently have two dogs: Hershey and Dewey. Both dogs will be leaving to continue their training on May 2, 2013, at the Vandalia Women's Correctional Facility.
As a nonprofit organization, Puppies with Purpose must raise awareness in the community through any way possible in order to raise the funds needed to purchase new puppies and supplies.
“We are learning that there’s a shortage of service dogs right now, so I think it’s really important to raise money with them and let the cause be known,” Meghan Morin, an Alpha Delta Pi at MU, said.
However, these puppies can improve the lives of more people than just those with disabilities.
“I haven’t seen a single person where it didn’t grab their attention in some way,” Acacia member David Hinkle said. “As far as my reaction, I love puppies, I love dogs in general … It reminds me of my childhood.”
The organization was chosen to be a beneficiary of this year’s Greek Week, and worked closely with the sorority Alpha Delta Pi, as well as fraternities Delta Tau Delta and Acacia, to raise both money and awareness for the organization.
“They came out to the Greek Week fling skit ... and everyone was laughing and saying ‘aww’ to the cute dogs,” Delta Tau Delta fraternity member Rob Rice said.
Tucker-Warhover hopes that this exposure, as well as frequent visits to elementary schools around the community, will get more people interested in Puppies with Purpose and their cause.
“Our goal is to have a disability-conscious community, both on campus and in Columbia,” Tucker-Warhover said. “If [young] people are more aware of things, hopefully they’ll be more tolerant and more understanding of people who have disabilities.”
Although Puppies with Purpose is a new organization, they have made great strides this year to raise awareness around the community and at MU.