The First Service Dog Team

Dr. Bonnie Bergin is the founder and president of Paws for Purple Hearts. She created the concept of service dogs in 1975 and she founded the world's first mobility service dog organization. Since then devoted her life to teaching and training dogs for individuals with disabilities. She also founded Bergin University of Canine Studies, the first and only program of its kind that focuses on teaching individuals how to train dogs. In 2006, she started a research program with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Healthcare System's Menlo Park, CA team and it led to the creation of Paws for Purple Hearts.

Our dogs start training at just 4 weeks old, and they will train for 2-3 years. By the time they graduate they know more than 100 commands.

Hear how Bonnie started the first service dog team and show the first service dog commands ever created.