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Support Our Pawsome Future Heroes Charity

Havana - Service Dog in Training

Our first crucial goal for this campaign is to help Honey’s Garden find a new training location that is readily available and spacious enough to accommodate the simultaneous training of many furry trainees. The second goal for this campaign is to help cover some of the expenses such as the trainers’ fees.

Here’s how to support our Pawsome Future Heroes drive:

GivenGain

Donate in EUR, USD, GBP via GivenGain!

BackaBuddy

Donate in South African Rand via BackaBuddy

We first heard of the puppy Havana when our colleague, Laura, mentioned that she’s going to be fostering a dog as part of training her to become a medical alert dog.
Having watched Laura's journey and her commitment to how much time, money, work and love goes into training a dog, MSS Kapstadt’s decision to help Honey’s Garden was a unanimously easy one to make; and the most natural next step. And what started as our small team’s plan to pitch in with a donation and a volunteering visit to the NGO quickly turned into these expansive campaigning efforts that we’d love to include our family, friends, and professional acquaintances in.
The entire team is quite fond of Havana, and of course Havana is just one great example of many other dogs like her, which are tasked with the commendable responsibility of improving a person’s life. We would like to give these dogs the best possible chance at succeeding in this intensive 2-year training period, and help them enjoy the journey all along. By helping these intelligent animals, we are also helping fellow humans, a factor that adds to the importance of this unanimously good cause.

This means that no matter how small or big the donation from us, and whether it is through money, a helping hand, or a shared link, we are certain that we each give confidently with the knowledge that it is not only a wonderful and rewarding cause, but also as a social responsibility and an opportunity for us at MSS Kapstadt to grow as individuals and to share our values as a company.

Hence we decided to have our website include a small page dedicated to Havana’s cause, which is where you find yourself right here.

Havana and her best toy friend. :-)

Havana as a puppy.

Who is Havana?

Message from Havana herself:

Woof, I am Havana, a greyhound, and I am in training to soon help people with diabetes (type 1) notice and thus treat especially low blood sugar levels as early as possible.

My big family of seven siblings and I were rescued from a township in Cape Town, South Africa.

One of my sisters and I were then taken in by Honey’s Garden, the first NGO in South Africa to train medical service dogs, and one that has done so for years. Our NGO grants special attention to street dogs, who are given a second chance. My sister and I had the innocent dog look even then.

My canine friends in training and I live with foster families who support us and with professional trainers who help us daily through our journey of learning what to do, when, and how. While I specifically have to use my sense of smell to detect when my person’s scent changes e.g. due to low blood sugar levels, other dog friends of mine focus more on learning how to move objects and how to bring them to their person and so on.

Honey’s Garden is an NGO and has been training dogs for several years. Special attention is granted to street dogs, who are given a second chance.

Did you know that any breed can become a service dog? It does not have to be a purebred Labrador. After completing the training, we are placed in homes within South Africa as well as abroad. It takes me about 2 years to finish my training – then I have to pass a final exam before I can start my real work. Where I will go, I do not yet know. When it comes to our trainers’ work, training locations, material, toys, food, and veterinary costs, Honey’s Garden needs financial support and always appreciates a helping hand.

At MSS I am already allowed to come to the office from time to time to learn early enough how to behave in everyday human situations. Quite boring that they sit on their chairs every day and stare at a box? But at least I get their attention instantly when I go to greet everyone at their desks.

Woof woof! Whoever can support Honey’s Garden in my name, donate here. Every little bit helps so I can continue to receive support until the end of my training. Many thanks and who knows – you have a need for me? Maybe our paths will cross and I can help you in the future.

GivenGain

Donate in EUR, USD, GBP via GivenGain

BackaBuddy

Donate in ZAR via BackaBuddy

Honey’s Garden - read their Story!

Honey's Garden For Medical Alert Dogs SA
Why do they need help?

Honey's Garden is a registered nonprofit organisation (2016/387235/08) whose mission is to place quality service dogs with people within South Africa who are underprivileged, fighting with disabilities or diseases, and veterans who have lost use of limbs or hearing. Honey's Garden also helps with animal rescue, and educates the public regarding use of service dogs in public places.

Since 2017, they have trained 23 working medical service dogs, 7 Therapets, and have 17 more dogs currently in training for their families. These dogs, who were mostly selected from rescue organizations, have all graduated last year; and more are on their way to.

The organisation is in need of new facilities to house and train the service dogs at, as well as utilise for a variety of other beneficial activities.

The costs involved in training a dog majorly depend on their specific assigned purpose within their human companion’s life. A diabetes medical service dog such as Havana typically costs around ZAR100 000 to complete all training and be ready for its forever home.

Our first and most crucial goal for this campaign is to help Honey’s Garden find a new training location that is readily available and spacious enough to accommodate the simultaneous training of many furry trainees. Factors such as constantly changing locations and going to grounds that are in noisier parts of the city can make it harder for the dogs to focus, and in turn slows down the training progress.

A second goal for this campaign is to help cover some of the expenses that paying the trainers and getting more trainers on board, which speeds up each dog’s training journey and means that they can help more people, sooner.

And last but not least, we would like to help these dogs find love and a safe space in the form of foster homes in the Blouberg and Table View areas. We would love to give the puppies a chance to grow up with exposure to specific commands and scenarios that allow them to develop the necessary reactions to situations and ready them for their futures as intelligent, helpful heroes!

How to help?! Please donate.

Every donation counts and helps Honey's Garden to continue their good work and help dogs to have a purposeful happy life whilst helping a person in need.

Donate directly to Havana and Honey's Garden's Service Dog Training Facility! Make the difference.

We have two options when it comes to the trusted crowd-funding platforms we use:

BackaBuddy

For our locally-based clients, friends, and family who may predominantly wish to
donate in ZAR.

GivenGain

For our internationally-based clients, friends, and family who may wish to
donate in EUR, GBP or USD.

Havana says "Thank you for your donation!"

Any questions?

If you have any other questions for us about employment, jobs and vacant positions at MSS Cape Town, please send us a message.

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