It was clear from the beginning of this process that obtaining a trained service dog was NOT a short or easy to understand process, but as I have moved along in this journey that has become more and more painfully clear! I have often been left saying Say What and my head spinning as I have received more information from AZ Goldens. The more questions that I had, the longer it delayed me from receiving a service dog, but lets be honest this is a LOT of money to fundraise, so I was going to be sure that I understood everything before jumping into fundraising!
AZ Goldens is unlike other agencies in that they offer more than just the fully trained service dog option for recipients such as their Green Dog program or even a train your own dog program, so this made the terms different depending on the program selected and the specific dog that you were seeking. AZ Goldens bases their prices off each individual dog since each dog is different in the cost to them such as the training put in them, and the expenses such as a spay or neuter or any type of other medical procedures. The price continues to change on the dog as it goes through more training, unless you do the Green Dog program and put full price down to purchase the dog then and there.
Fully trained service dog option is over double the price of Green Dog, but it includes more things such as a year to raise the estimated funds needed for the dog at a locked in price for that entire year whereas the Green Dog option the full purchase price for the dog is required in full ASAP and the dog's price increases as time passes based off the dog's training and time invested in it.
Example is Blizzard is currently sitting at $22,000 for the Green dog program, however within the next 2 weeks she will be getting more training so her price will increase and continue to increase with each month of training and time invested in her. So if it takes me 3 months from now to raise over $20,000 then that wouldn't be enough for Blizzard anymore as her price would be closer to the $46,000.
No matter how long it takes me to raise the necessary funds for a service dog, AZ Goldens will provide a service dog to me when I have the funds. I take the chance though that it won't be Blizzard or that I may have to wait longer since they may not have any available dogs at the time that I have the funds ready? This has left my head spinning with more questions and possible scenarios!
I have decided to take some time to pray and think over things before moving forward with AZ Goldens. I have thought of several questions and emailed them to AZ Goldens and will await their answers to hopefully help clarify some things for me?
Please pray for guidance and wisdom for me as I continue to navigate this journey. Thank You:)
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