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Monday 9am - 8pm Tuesday 9am - 8pm Wednesday 9am - 8pm Thursday 9am - 8pm Friday 9am - 8pm Saturday 9am - 8pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

Paws Giving Independence NFP

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United States
Peoria, IL
Paws Giving Independence NFP

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Saving a life to change a life. Our purpose is to train service/facility dogs and place them free of charge. Visit our website for more info!

Paws Giving Independence is run completely on public donations. We are unique because our service dogs are placed free of charge and we currently have no paid staff. That is why we need your help to keep our program running. Many of our dogs are all rescued from shelters but we need your support to pay for the vet bills and everyday care.

10/31/2026

College Life with a Service Dog!

Meet Mango and Henry! 🐾❤️

These two best friends have something extra special in common: their recipients are friends, too!

Our parents attend college full-time, and we get to tag along to help support them along the way. Wherever they go, we go! From navigating campus to sitting in class, we’re right there by their sides. 🐕‍🦺📚

One of the coolest parts? Thanks to PGI’s amazing college student training clubs ( Wags for Mags and Indy-pendence Service Dogs), we even got the opportunity to train on college campuses ( Mango was puppy raised at ISU and Henry visited college campus many times !) These experiences help prepare us for the important jobs we do every day.

But life isn’t all work! When we’re off duty, we love playing tag with each other and snuggling up to watch movies with our parents. 🎬🐶💤

We may have important jobs, but we’re still dogs who love to have fun! ❤️
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10/29/2026

🐾 SHOP • DONATE • SUPPORT PGI! 🐾

We’re excited to announce that Paws Giving Independence will be the featured organization at phhelpinghands17 from December 8–12! 🎉

During our designated week, your shopping and donations at Helping Hands will help support Paws Giving Independence and our mission of providing service dogs to people with disabilities. 🦮💙

So if you’ve been meaning to do some thrifting, clean out your closets, or find some great treasures — this is the perfect week to do it! 🛍️

✨ Shop at Helping Hands
✨ Donate gently used items
✨ Tell your friends and family
✨ Help support service dogs in our community!

Every purchase and donation during our week helps make a difference for PGI and the people we serve. ❤️

📅 December 8–12
📍 Peoria Heights Helping Hands

Thank you for supporting Paws Giving Independence and for helping us continue our mission! 🐾

10/28/2026

Congratulations!!

Congratulations Team Coco on their recent graduation🎓🐾

Coco will be a facility dog with Pekin Police Department and Child Advocacy!

Thank you to all that have helped raise Coco to being a great pup and facility dog she is today!
We can not wait to watch this team grow and make a difference in the community!
Pet Pack Rescue Initiative
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10/27/2026

Cash: Then vs Now 🐾

It’s Transformation Tuesday with Cash! Cash is a 1.5 year old English Cream Golden Retriever who was rescued by TAPS/PCAPS and joined our program at 8 months old. Since joining PGI, Cash has been working hard and learning his advanced skills to become a future service dog! We are beyond proud of Cash and have loved watching him transform from rescue dog to service dog! Keep up the amazing work, Cash! 🩵🐾
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10/26/2026

Happy birthday Kiwi!! What do you do to celebrate your pup's birthday. Share in comments.

10/24/2026

Our service dogs in training had a very fun outing this week! Our trainers with Indy-pendence Service Dogs at Illinois State University held a scavenger hunt across campus. The dogs had to preform various skills at certain locations. They had such a fun time with this training activity! Check out the video to see who won! 🥇🐾❤️
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10/23/2026

🐾New Merchandise! 🐾

We’re so excited to share our new merchandise, designed and created by one of our amazing volunteers! We’re incredibly grateful for the time, creativity, and talent our volunteers put into supporting our mission.

Take a look at our new design and the products available for purchase! When you shop our merchandise, you’re doing more than showing your support - you’re helping us continue our mission of “saving a life to change a life”. Every purchase helps provide the care, training, and resources our future service dogs need to make a difference in someone’s life. 🦮❤️🐾

Thank you for being part of our mission! Shop with the link below!

https://teamworks.chipply.com/paws-26/?action=viewall
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10/22/2026

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congrats to Team Coco, Team Pepper, and Team Zeke on passing their final ADI certification test!! These teams are officially a working team! Team Coco will be at Pekin Police Department as a facility dog! Team Pepper will work together for partial hearing and Team Zeke will be a facilitated working team ❤️🐾

We can not wait to continue watching these 3 teams work together throughout the many years to come!!

Go Team Coco, Team Pepper and Team Zeke
Pet Pack Rescue Initiative Edwards English Doodles
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10/22/2026

THANK YOU!!

Thank you Syndigo for the generous donation of dog supplements, dog treats, and collars for all of our service dogs and service dogs in training!!

We’ve already heard that all of the goodies are paw-some ❤️🐾

Dog pictured: Major
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10/20/2026

LEVEL 1 PUBLIC ACCESS TEST✅

Congratulations to Locke on passing his level 1 public access test! This will allow Locke to work in public settings in vest ❤️🐾

We can’t wait to keep watching Locke and all he accomplishes in his training!

Locke is sponsored by JIMAX Group of Illinois If you are interested in sponsoring a PGI dog, follow the link below.

Link: https://givingindependence.org/sponsor-a-dog/
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Address

PO Box 9572
Peoria, IL
61612

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 8pm
Tuesday	9am - 8pm
Wednesday	9am - 8pm
Thursday	9am - 8pm
Friday	9am - 8pm
Saturday	9am - 8pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+13098392754

Website

http://givingindependence.org/

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