Patriot Assistance Dogs

Providing Psychiatric Service Dogs for disabled American Veterans at no cost to the Veteran. 

Our organization was founded in Detroit Lakes, MN in 2011.  Our main goal is to provide trained psychiatric service dogs to military Veterans at no charge to the Veteran.  Our first year we sent out 2 dogs.  Since that first year of 2011 we have gone on to certify over 320 dog/Veteran teams with our program. Approximately 70%-75% of our dogs in the program are rescue dogs and come from all over the Midwest. We have plans to continue this upward trend and are on track to graduate 30 more teams by our next graduation in September of 2026. Our service area includes MN, ND, IA, SD, and WI. We have dogs out as far as NY, TX, and CO!  It takes approximately $20,000-$25,000 to fully prepare and train a dog to be paired with a Veteran.  This includes skills training, testing and certification, and a full veterinarian work up.  Veterans are also sent out with a backpack full of necessary supplies for their dog including, bandages, leashes, chew toys, heart guard, front line and other miscellaneous items that will be useful in case of an injury to the dog.  The backpacks themselves can be anywhere from $300-$450.00. We also have housing that the Veterans can stay at for no charge during their week-long class placement and other training events, so that they do not have to find lodging. We are looking to break ground on our new kennels in spring of 2026! Thank you for considering our Veterans!