What is a “Facility” Dog?

We see “helping dogs” all over the community, service or therapy dogs have been trained to help individuals. However, there is another type of “service” dog that helps in businesses, healthcare facilities, schools and more, much like an employee of that facility.

We recently talked to Kelly Schaeffer, executive director of FIDOS Facility Dogs, Inc., about it. Schaeffer and her friends Judith Thomason and Tracy Anderson started the organization in 2021 based on their love of and passion for working with dogs and people. “We all had experience raising and training service, facility and volunteer therapy dogs, and we wanted to start an organization that would focus solely on raising, training and placing these facility dogs in our local communities. We are a 100 percent volunteer organization,” Schaeffer says.

Q. What Does FIDOS stand for?

A. FIDOS stands for Friends Invested and Dedicated to Outreach and Service. FIDOS Facility Dogs Inc. provides highly-trained working dogs to partner with an employee of a facility in health care, education, a nonprofit or a corporate environment. We only train facility dogs, and the standard poodle is our breed of choice due to their high intelligence, temperament and non-shedding coats.

Q. What is a “facility” dog?

A. A facility dog is a highly-trained dog that goes to work each day with their handler, who is an employee of the facility. They work alongside professionals in education, healthcare, nonprofits and corporations to engage people in activities designed to improve functional outcomes, stimulate healing and recovery, providing comfort and unconditional love. You may have met Libby at the Hoover Public Library – Libby is a FIDOS Facility Dog.

Q. What does a facility dog do?

A. A facility dog is placed at a location/facility and trained to do many tasks and interact with multiple people during its workday. For example, a facility dog working at an educational facility may visit with children with learning differences as they work on their lessons to love, motivate, calm, and interact with them. Facility dogs do not have public access under the Americans with Disabilities Act; therefore, facility dogs can only go where dogs are permitted and where permission has been granted by the facility.

Facility Dogs are NOT Service Animals. A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.

Q. What dogs/how many are you training right now?

A. We currently have four dogs in training – CJ will graduate in August and begin his placement at Unless U/Post Place. Marlie and Justice are in-training for their placements at Cahaba Heights Elementary and Pizitz Middle School, respectively.

Lincoln is in training for Brookwood Elementary School in Tuscaloosa County.

We love to share what we do with the community, so if you would like to

have an in-person presentation (including a dog!), please reach out.

We are actively recruiting volunteers to help us with the dogs on weekends! This includes having the dogs visit your home and interact with your families.

Q. Where are you located, and who do you serve?

A. FIDOS is located in Hoover, AL and we serve education, healthcare, nonprofit and corporate communities within 30 miles of Hoover. You can reach them at (205) 354-3285 or fidosfacilitydogs1@gmail.com. Visit fidosfacilitydogs.org for more information.