P.A.D. of Central PA was founded in 2009 by Linzey Zoccola, who was diagnosed at 2 years of age with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Ms Zoccola’s journey with assistance dogs began when she was 15 and she has dedicated her life to the industry since then. She has attended many national conferences focusing on positive reinforcement dog training, volunteered and worked for an ADI accredited program, and trained more than 25 fully working assistance dogs. Her love for dogs, desire to serve, and her experience with raising, training and having her own assistance dog inspired her to create a new and organizational model for the field. Her position on topics ranging from canine over population, issues with kenneling dogs, to the complex needs of individuals living with disabilities, the inspiration to launch a program that would assist individuals in finding healthy, suitable puppies from shelters and training them one at a time to become highly personalized assistance dogs began. “I feel passionately that the success of the partnership between canine and human is dependent upon the dedication of the partner themselves and their desire to live with an assistance dog. I am devoted to supporting my community all of the way from finding suitable puppies that are already within my region, as opposed to having a breeding program and to working individually with the person in need of assistance.” – Linzey Zoccola