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The Pennsylvania Campus will be an innovative facility bringing the life-saving mission of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs to Washington County.
This campus will serve the people throughout Pennsylvania and the northeastern region of the United States and will include the Borden Institute of Higher Learning, where all animal-related careers will be taught, housing for recipients during the time they are being introduced and paired with their service dog, as well as the Borden Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where dogs in training, their paired teams, and the community will receive care.
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Site Plan
Master Plan
Welcome Center
Welcome Center
Welcome Center
Lifestages 1 and 2
Lifestages 1 and 2
Lifestages 3 and 4
Lifestage 6
Veterinary Hospital
Recipient Training Housing
Recipient Training Housing
Pavilion
Pavilion
Walk of Heroes
Welcome Center First Level
Welcome Center Second Level
Lifestages 1 and 2
Lifestages 3 and 4
Lifestage 6
Veterinary Hospital First Level
Veterinary Hospital Lower Level
Recipient Training Housing
At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, we are incredibly grateful for the support and generosity of our sponsors. With their help, we have been able to change the lives of countless individuals through the power of trained service dogs. Now, as we expand with a new campus in Pittsburgh, we are filled with hope for what this development will mean for our organization and those we serve.
By sponsoring our new campus, you will be directly contributing to providing life-changing assistance to individuals in need. Your support will not only help us continue our mission of training and pairing service dogs with those who need them, but it will also enable us to reach even more people and communities in the Pittsburgh area and throughout the northeastern region of the Unites States. We are truly excited about the potential for growth and impact that this new campus will bring, and we hope that you will join us in making it a reality. Your sponsorship truly makes a difference in the lives of those who benefit from our services, and for that, we cannot thank you enough.
For information regarding sponsorships and donor opportunities, please contact Mary Jo Brandt, CFO at 239-771-3703 or MJ@MedicalServiceDogs.org.
This 102-acre, state-of-the-art Service Dog training facility, located west of Pittsburgh in Washington County will provide a safe and serene environment for applicants and recipients; while creating an innovative, world class campus for the training of service dogs. As part of the Guardian Angels’ mission, every dog is donated to the recipient at no cost. These incredible dogs provide a sense of normalcy by assisting with both visible and invisible disabilities in ways that human caregivers cannot. Veterans and first-responders comprise approximately 90% of our recipients.
The Welcome Center is the first stop with a beautiful view of the entire campus. It is the focal point with recipient training, foster family training, events, apprentice classes, volunteers, offices and much more, all taking place in this location daily. It will be the starting point to providing physical, psychological, and spiritual wellness for the recipients and their families. The new Welcome Center includes a large multi-purpose room, training facilities, and outdoor gathering spaces. Administrative offices wrap along the natural contours of the space, nestling into the rolling meadows.
Life Stage 1 & 2 building will be a state-of-the-art nursery and on-site housing for the highly-trained Dog Care Specialists. This is where a solid foundation begins early on with specialized introductions to health protocols, socialization, various textures, enrichment exercises, and more. This building will be equipped with audio/visual capabilities with a central viewing station to ensure their constant well-being. This will also be the first building to be assessed and certified as a Green Globes, environmentally sensitive design structure with our other buildings to follow.
Each of these million-dollar state of the art buildings will not only provide 12 x 12 dogominimums with 12 x 40 indoor/outdoor runs, and they will be filled with natural lighting both in their living areas as well as the indoor training area. Each indoor training area is where these future medical service dogs will be immersed in socialization, desensitization, confidence building and basic human body reading exercises. Each Life Stage building is set up specifically for the needs of a certain age group and what they will be learning for their maturity level. In addition, they will have 150 x 75 play yards for absorbing lots of fresh air and sunshine with their Dog Care Specialists and Trainers.
Life Stage 6 is by far a one-of-a-kind concept for teaching customized advanced skill work in a home environment and the last step in preparing our service dogs to be paired with their disabled recipient. Each of these three buildings will serve as a home before their home if you will. Once they’ve returned from their foster families, this is where our future service dogs will live and train with their on-site, live-in trainers while they polish their skill work until paired with their recipient. They will be taught tasks such as opening/closing doors, picking up dropped items, turning on/off lights, hitting an emergency call button should their disabled recipient be in peril beyond their ability to help, and more, in a real-life setting.
Our non-profit veterinary hospital will serve multiple critical purposes. First and foremost, we will be providing excellent care to our dogs in training and paired teams. Additionally, we will be teaching animal related courses that improve and develop our own staff while providing career opportunities to students in the surrounding community and beyond. The hospital also provides diversification to their training while serving the community with low cost spay/neuters, vaccine clinics, and more. The veterinary hospital will also include a secure/safe quarantine section to ensure the safety of the animals and staff.
Each of these three units has been designed per ADA guidelines as specialized quadruplex housing for our disabled recipients when they come for training. They will spend approximately two weeks at our campus bonding and learning how to work with and properly care for their highly skilled medical service dog, often bringing their family as well.
A wonderful outdoor venue for recipient training and events.
$100,000 has been donated by Keystone Community Project.
A serene setting for reflection, peace, and healing. The healing garden at Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs will serve as a tranquil place where our recipients can find peace and comfort during their journey with us. The garden will feature the calming power of water and the beauty of nature to create a peaceful escape from the stressors of daily life. It will also serve as a therapeutic space for our recipients who are working with their service dogs to heal from physical or emotional wounds.
This area has been sponsored in full by Life Changing Service Dogs for Veterans.
A parklike walk through statues of our dogs and stories that went above and beyond their training to save lives of many people in ways they were not trained to do. Without their problem-solving skills and quick action these people would have perished.
Man made pond that has been there for years serving the wildlife. It needs repair before it implodes. This is part of improving, maintaining the ecosystem and the beautification of a once strip mined property.
Fabulous outdoor spaces for our dogs in training to enjoy outdoor spaces. These dog play yards are an essential part of their training and socialization. Not only do they provide a safe and secure area for our dogs to play and exercise, but they also give them the opportunity to interact with other dogs and people in a controlled environment. This helps to build their confidence and social skills, preparing them for life as a fully-trained service dog. They are not just simple play areas, but rather an integral part of our service dog training program.
$175,000 has been donated by the Margaret Raphael Foundation.
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs and That’s My Brick!® have joined forces to raise money for a New State-of-the-art Service Dog Campus to be built in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
This new campus will serve the NE Region of the United States, and allow Guardian Angels to continue serving our Veterans, first responders and civilians living with permanent disabilities, by providing them with individually trained medical service dogs.
These incredible dogs restore a sense of Freedom and Independence.
As we prepare to break ground and take the final steps to realizing this goal, we invite you to become a vital and lasting part of our journey! By purchasing an individualized brick or tile and customizing it, your message will become a permanent fixture at our NE Regional Campus!
Your brick can be personalized with a choice of symbols and images, the text of your choice, and even your company logo!
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