Hero Labradors
Service Dogs for those who Served
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There are thousands of veterans, first responders, and wounded warriors who need service dogs. Not every dog has the focus, drive, and desire to do the work, and those that do are very special dogs. Shelter dogs can help greatly, but they may have health or other issues that manifest years later (like hip dysplasia) and put the owner at a disadvantage of having to care for an animal that should be caring for them. By breeding and providing genetically and orthopedically sound, registered purebred labradors, we address the need for dogs large enough for mobility issues, friendly enough to go anywhere and be around small children, athletic enough to handle long and hard service days, and help to fill the gap between need and availability to trainers.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Breeding
Breeding quality, healthy labradors with the aptitude to become service dogs
Operations
Kennel maintenance and improvements, transportation, feeding, veterinary care
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total Number of service dog eligible puppies provided to trainers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Veterans, Emergency responders, People with disabilities
Related Program
Breeding
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number denotes the total number provided, and is a sum of the current and previous years.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Hero labradors aims to accomplish a building a breeding program at our facility in Texas and growing our size to six litter producing females, each selected for build, temperament, and aptitude. These females could produce up to 60 pups per year. We expect that of those, we can place 50 in service dog training programs, and the remainder can be sold as pets, with the revenues returning to maintain our program.
Long Term, we hope to encourage other breeders to select for aptitude and temperament traits and donate the pups from their litters which display the aptitude for service training.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Initial strategy is selection of breeding pairs, selection of training programs and development of relationships with other breeders.
Once breeding pairs are established, maintain those pairs as appropriate to produce consistent results. Work with training programs as pups are trained to determine if there are unwanted traits/behaviors which can be traced to genetics. Further contact with other breeders to select dogs for breeding programs to encourage participation in selection and working with training programs.
Update: We currently have three breeding females, having retired one due to age and another due to elbow problems that may be either environmental or genetic. We currently have one stud dog, but will expand our bloodline in 2020 with the addition of another sire. From the three litters we will have him produce, we will keep two female pups, and these will grow into our breeding program.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have the facilities to house up to six adult females and litters, a fully functional kennel with separate runs and bedding areas, and 5 acres of fenced land for exercise and socialization.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
To date we have donated two pups into training programs. Both dogs are doing very well in their training and fostering and we expect them to continue without issue. What we have not accomplished yet is becoming established breeders with the community and developing key relationships with other breeders and training programs throughout the country. We would like to work with programs in every state, to provide an intake pipeline to ensure there is space in a training program once the puppy is whelped.
2020 Update: After three years of successful breeding, we have produced 58 pups, and of those, only two have been removed from training programs due to behavior issues.
This is a 96.5% success rate. For comparison, most programs who are using dogs that are not purpose-bred for service only see a 50% (often lower) success rate.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Hero Labradors
Board of directorsas of 08/25/2023
CHARLES ZIEGENFUSS
Hero Labradors
Term: 2016 - 2025
Carren Ziegenfuss
Hero Labradors
Kirk Esmond
Hero Labradors
Ricky John
Mark Concialdi
Richard Lowe
Matthew Burden
Mitchell Bell
Danique Masingill
The Hero Academy
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/03/2020GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.