Founded in 1977,
Dogs for Better Lives (DBL) is an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to rescuing, training, and placing professionally trained Assistance Dogs for people with disabilities. Over the past 43 years, Dogs for Better Lives has successfully rescued, cared for, trained, and placed more than 1,300 dogs in 49 states.
With a staff of 31 and 15 board members, DBL is a nationally recognized and respected provider of Assistance Dog International (ADI) certified Assistance Dogs. Out of all accredited service dog organizations, DBL is the only one that rescues dogs and takes them to the client, training them how to use the dog in their own home and community, for zero cost.
Mission & Vision
Our mission is to professionally train dogs to help people and enhance lives while maintaining a lifelong commitment to all dogs we rescue or breed and the people we serve.
Our vision is to be a premier national provider of professionally trained Assistance Dogs.
Founder, Roy Kabat, worked with animals in hundreds of motion pictures and television shows, including "Doctor Doolittle," Elsa the lion in "Living Free," and the cougar in the Mercury car commercials. After his Hollywood career, Roy moved to Applegate, Oregon in semi-retirement. He opened the Applegate Behavioral Station to help Dr. John Sullivan from Southern Oregon University with wolf research. Then one day, the American Humane Association approached Roy for help in training a Hearing Dog. Roy answered the call and spent two weeks in Denver working with and advising AHA on dog training techniques. After advising the American Humane Association on dog training techniques, Roy returned to Oregon with the idea of beginning a Hearing Dog training center on his southern Oregon ranch. With some seed money and a heart filled with inspiration, Roy opened the doors to the new nonprofit. Roy's mission of rescuing, professionally training, and placing dogs with people in need continues today through the now expanded services of Dogs for Better Lives.
Please visit
dogsforbetterlives.org for more information about our services and the impact made by your support.