Since 1978, The San Francisco SPCA Hearing Dog Program has been transforming dogs abandoned in Northern California animal shelters into hard-working helpers who lead new lives of love and service.

These once-homeless canines are trained extensively to become part of an important human/animal working partnership. Hearing Dogs are usually mixed breed canines of various sizes. However, the program also uses pure-bred dogs it finds in shelters or that are donated by individuals and breeders. Both males and females can become excellent Hearing Dogs and all dogs are spayed or neutered prior to being placed.

Because animal shelters are our primary source of dogs, selected dogs may range in age from 9 months to 3 years of age, with our preference being one to one and a half years old.

These alert pooches recently competed for a spot in our Placement Class

To date, the program has placed over 645 dogs throughout the states of California and Nevada.