• One introductory telephone consultation and a series of follow up e-mails with Executive Director Patty Dobbs Gross to assess your needs. If we determine that North Star services are not appropriate for your family, we will help you identify resources within your own community or refer you to other organizations that might be more appropriate for your specific situation.
• A copy of Patty’s book, The Golden Bridge, on CD ROM, and your choice of one of our three videos, "Raising Your North Star," about how we select and train the puppies we train to work with children who face challenges, “Home Before Dark,” about our work with children on the autism spectrum, and "Northern Lights," about how we incorporate our dogs into their children’s therapeutic programs.These materials were designed to help document the work we are accomplishing at North Star, and we feel that educating you is an excellent place to begin our process of acquiring a dog to work with your child.

We see the intelligent selection of an appropriate dog to work with a child with a challenge as crucial to creating a safe and effective placement. We have access to a wide array of breeders, trainers and other related non-profits to make the path towards acquiring a dog to work with your child as successful as possible for your family. We will work with you to:

• Evaluating a current pet within the home for suitability of advanced training
• Locating an appropriate puppy or dog to be trained within the home to work with a child
• Advising you of ongoing issues of training dogs to work with children within the home

The North Star Foundation is funded completely by donation. This level of service is available for a $100 donation to North Star Foundation. Checks should be made out to North Star Foundation and sent to Patty Dobbs Gross, 20 Deerfield Lane, Storrs, CT 06268.

This package includes all services listed in our Exploratory Package, but is designed to begin a North Star placement with an assistance dog.

With our Acquisition Package, we will select an appropriate North Star dog to train for your child from within our in-house breeding program or from a program or organization who meets our high standards for breeding and nurturing/raising puppies according to our specifications. Together, we will select your North Star dog, and then work with your child’s teachers, therapists and siblings to create this dog’s ultimate job description based on your child’s needs. We will help you develop an understanding of how our dogs are trained to help your child meet their social, emotional and educational goals, to best prepare you to partner with us to complete your dog’s training when he or she comes to live with you at approximately 9 months of age (the timetables for placement are individual, but this is the average age of placement for our dogs.) You will then work with a local trainer who employs positive training methods and has been educated to work with us to complete your dog’s training until he or she passes our certification process (usually achieved when our dogs are one year of age.)

This level also includes direct service (a face to face visit) at time of placement, along with one follow up visit by Executive Director Patty Dobbs Gross or Assistant Director Genevieve Nilluka.

This service is customized for each family and it includes:

• A well bred/well socialized puppy (these puppies are specifically selected for the children they will serve). North Star dogs usually come from our in-house breeding program; however, we occasionally go outside our breeding program to better meet a child's specific needs (i.e., purchasing a high quality standard poodle puppy for a child who is allergic to dogs, as poodles have hair instead of fur and are far less likely to trigger allergies.) When we step outside our breeding program, we are very careful to seek our breeding programs that are equal to or superior to our own.
• Formation of a training plan
• Discussion and inclusion of any siblings within the home in all aspects of placement
• Discussion and development of foundation behaviors: Sit, down, stay, come, loose leash walking, general public access manners
• Discussion of more advanced behaviors specific to needs of child(ren).
• Development of more advanced training plan and help in identifying and securing local trainers to help accomplish these goals, if required.
• Ongoing and unlimited email and telephone support, access to resources, handouts, and supportive services.
• Optional link to other families using assistance dogs if desired (this requires Internet computer access).
• North Star’s participation in treatment team meetings (IEP's, therapy appointments, etc.), if requested.

The following expenses are covered as part of a North Star placement at this level:

• Medical expenses through one year of age (including spay/neuter, puppy shots, heartworm and flea & tick control products).
• North Star's saddle for your dog to wear when they achieve public access.
• North Star Foundation's information package: This includes the videos "Raising Your North Star," “Home Before Dark,” and "Northern Lights", along with a CD ROM version of the book, The Golden Bridge.
• All consultant fees with North Star staff as well as any outside professional brought into our team to help enrich the placement.
• Ongoing and unlimited training support by phone and e-mail until the North Star dog is one year of age. Our ongoing support continues after the North Star dog is one year old on an as-needed basis, with our role taking a backseat to the incorporation of a local approved trainer (if desired). This trainer will be then be funded by the family in question; however, our services will continue at no further charge.
• The fee for this service package is $5,000 in the form of a donation to North Star Foundation; this money can be obtained through fund-raising efforts spearheaded by the parent(s) of a child and supported by us in the form of donated materials. Donations made in the name of a specific child will go directly toward supporting their placement.