The Beginning: The Hearing Ear Dog Program
Holliston Junior College, Lenox, MA

The Hearing Ear Dog Program (now NEADS), began in October, 1976 on the Lenox, Massachusetts campus of Holliston Junior College. With seed money provided by the Medfield (MA) Lions Club, students in the Animal Care Program tested the premise that like Guide Dogs trained to help people who are blind, Hearing Dogs could be trained to become the "ears" for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Three of the five dogs trained were successfully paired with a deaf human partner ... and a program was born.

News of this unique service quickly spread, and generated many requests for Hearing Dogs. The Hearing Ear Dog Program moved its operations to an unheated summer camp on the Holliston (MA) Junior College campus.

The “Farm”
Jefferson, MA

In 1979, a local philanthropist offered the timely use of his 90-acre farm in Jefferson (MA). It was here where the staff developed "facility-based education," a training method still used with great success today -- whereby students develop a strong working relationship with their dog by living and training in a home-like environment on-campus for two weeks, while under the expert supervision of the staff.

In 1984, the farm was suddenly sold and the Hearing Ear Dog Program was forced to relocate. Although kennel operations, training, and administration were not always located under one roof in the years that followed, training was never interrupted.

NEADS Expands It’s Training to Include Service Dogs
Green Street
West Boylston, MA

By 1986, the Hearing Ear Dog Program had raised $90,000 and purchased a small Victorian home with an attached barn for kennels in West Boylston (MA). All operations were moved here.

In 1987, after training over 400 Hearing Dog "teams" (a person who is deaf or hard of hearing and their canine assistant), NEADS expanded its services to train dogs to become the "arms and/or legs" for people with physical disabilities. Teddy Berberian, an enthusiastic, 12-year old boy who used a wheelchair, and "Kendrick," a gentle golden retriever donated by the Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue League, became the first Service Dog team trained on the East Coast.

To better reflect these new services, the Hearing Ear Dog Program changed its name to New England Assistance Dog Services (NEADS) in 1989.

Building Our Dream: National Assistance Dog Training Campus
Princeton, MA

Faced with an ever-increasing demand for Assistance Dogs (particularly Service Dogs); the limitations of a small, 10-run kennel with no room for expansion; and training rooms and accommodations not accessible to students who used wheelchairs -- NEADS purchased a

6-year old house and 12 acres of land in Princeton (MA) to build a truly accessible and all-inclusive National Assistance Dog Training Campus in November, 1992.

Again, to better reflect the scope of its services, (NEADS has trained dogs for people in 27 states, has representatives in 17 states, and puppy raisers in 4 states), NEADS changed its name to the National Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS) in 1994.

In September, 1995, NEADS moved its operations from West Boylston to Princeton when Phase I of the new campus was completed: a 26-run indoor/outdoor kennel, a Hearing Dog model training apartment and temporary administrative offices. In November, 1996, the original campus house was renovated for accessibility to accommodate five (5) students at-a-time during training, as well as a live-in caretaker.

Ongoing improvements to the campus' landscape were begun in Spring, 1997 and include plans for a wheelchair-accessible pathway winding throughout the gardens and country setting of the campus.

The campus was completed October, 1999 with the addition to the kennel building which includes an Assistance Dog Training Arena and Education Center, a Visitor Welcome Center, administrative offices and an elevator.

NEADS began the Prison PUP Partnership in 1998, whereby inmates foster and train Service Dog puppies for one year before the dogs return to the NEADS campus for advanced training and partnership with their new owner. There are currently puppies being raised by inmates in five facilities in three states (Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut) under NEADS’ Prison PUP Partnership.

In an ongoing effort to meet the needs of our consumers, NEADS expanded its existing services to children and adults who are deaf or disabled in 2000 and 2001 to include the training of Walker Dogs (to aid people who use canes or crutches) and Small Service Dogs or “Laptop” Service Dogs (to aid people with physical disabilities, for example, by retrieving hard-to-reach items then returning them directly in their owner’s lap).

In August, 2001, NEADS purchased a home neighboring the campus to accommodate more students during training, particularly children through the new Canines for Disabled Kids program. In August, 2002, another neighboring home was purchased to continue to be able to offer students home-like accommodations during training, as well as house participants in our International Trainers Course. Recently, representatives from Australia and Korea participated in this course.