Our Guide Dogs
Fidelco German Shepherd Dogs are bred from Bavarian stock to ensure ideal characteristics for guide dog work such as intelligence, temperament, stamina and stability. Fidelco guide dogs are responsible for our clients’ safety at all times. This requires an uncompromising focus on the quality of the breed, extensive training, and thoughtful matching and placement.
Prospective clients interested in guide dog partnership, please request contact from our admissions staff.
For 60 years, Fidelco has been unwaveringly dedicated to its mission of breeding and training German Shepherd guide dogs and expertly matching them with clients across North America who are blind or visually impaired.
Producing the highest quality guide dogs who are partners in the engaged and vibrant lives of our clients is not only our mission, it’s our passion. Our focus has never shifted from guide dogs, or from providing increased independence and mobility to our valued clients.
Each and every Fidelco client benefits from not only our deeply rooted heritage but our bright and steady future as well.
If you are interested in a Fidelco guide dog, please request contact from our admissions staff.
Why Fidelco?
We know there are many guide and service dog schools out there. So, why Fidelco?
- We breed, raise, and train only Fidelco German Shepherd guide dogs. Created from Bavarian stock, the Fidelco German Shepherd is an outstanding and exclusive product of selective breeding from strong working lines. Our dogs possess the characteristics of the ideal working guide: intelligence, temperament, stamina, and stability.
- We provide our German Shepherd guide dogs at no cost to clients. All training from our certified trainers/instructors and all at-home follow-up visits are also provided free of charge, as is access to our 24/7 client support hotline.
- Our In-Community placement program allows you to bond and train with your Fidelco Guide Dog in your home and in the community in which you live and work. Fidelco pioneered this program, and it remains the gold standard, demonstrating that Fidelco’s deep understanding that clients may not have the time, nor the desire, to be away from home for weeks.
- Because you train at home with your dog and with your dog's dedicated trainer, the client-to-trainer ratio is always 1:1. The strength and safety of your team is all that matters.
Partnering with a guide dog is a big decision, and it's one that can be truly life changing. At Fidelco, we take great pride in our work, and in the partnerships we create. Our clients have referred to us as their "Fidelco family," and we'd love the opportunity to welcome you into that fold.
Fidelco has a team in place to walk you through each step, from our stringent application process to our equally rigorous method of matching clients to dogs, which helps ensure that we are not only creating successful partnerships but loving friendships as well. And our support continues for the entire working life of your unique partnership.
Learn more about the application process by contacting our admissions staff. We look forward to hearing from you.
"In-Community" Placement
Fidelco pioneered In-Community Placement in the United States. This one-on-one process trains our clients to use their guide dogs in their homes, neighborhoods and places of work.
Throughout the two- to three-week training process, clients have the support of their family, friends and co-workers. In-Community Placement also allows our professional trainers/instructors to carefully evaluate new clients’ progress in their individual day-to-day environments.
In our six decades of placing guide dogs, we have found that this training method is the most effective way to create high functioning teams.
Want to see the Journey from Pup to Guide Dog Partner?
There are many stages, seasons, and people involved in the care and training of pups on their journeys to becoming guide dog partners.