Sometimes you can find true love in a bar.
That's what happened to our founder, Sean Downey, during one lazy summer afternoon in 2006. Sean didn't know it that day, but walking into Lucky Baldwin's in Pasadena and meeting Rook — a six-month-old Australian Shepherd — would change his life forever.
Rook was with his trainer working on his comfort in social settings. He sat at the bar just like a person, off-leash, well mannered, and calmly enjoying the attention of everyone that passed by.
6 weeks later, Sean received a call from the trainer explaining Rook had been given up by his family. Sean knew Rook had actually found his family as he quickly raced to adopt him.
Rook instantly became Sean's "Pawsitivity Pup" — and Sean knew it was his duty to share Rook with the rest of the world. Rook went on to spend over 10 years making weekly visits to nursing homes and youth centers bringing laughs, love, comfort, and joy to everyone who met him.
The team at the Pawsitive Path Program believe there's a little Rook waiting to be found inside every dog — it just takes a match with their perfect pet parent to bring it out.
GOLD Leash K9 was founded in 2013 with the aim of developing a proprietary platform and user interface that could assess quantitative and qualitative data to improve the quality of the canine-human relationship. This relationship is initially formed through various nationwide organizations that provide canines for a range of roles, including companionship, service, and working dogs. With the increasing demand for service dogs to support the needs of the Active Duty and Veteran communities, Gold Leash K9, Inc. continued to develop its platform with a collaborative approach to collect, assess, and analyze the nuances within the Veteran and Service Dog industry. The company became data driven, building a team of subject matter experts to collaborate and facilitate positive outcomes. The data collected aims to provide for standardized program elements and measurement of the many benefits of a long-term relationship between a canine and their human in various roles throughout the nation.
Programs and measurable data focus on the cause and effect on short and long-term outcomes positively impacting the Canine and Service Member relationship, as well as the benefits that pairing brings to overall family wellness. The approach is mixed and prioritizes communication and engagement to systematically measure the subjective and objective data when working with people and dogs where diagnosis may be standardized, but individual objectives can vary significantly. Objectives measure short- and long-term outcomes with a proactive approach in continued platform development and integration that provides measurable data points that mitigate potential regression in the longer-term wellness of the Veteran, canine, and the family.
GOLD Leash K9, Inc. has successfully defined canine and service member roles, responsibilities, and benefits through its platform and data analysis capability. This has resulted in informed decision-making in all program facets, streamlined and targeted funding, and enhanced transparency and accountability between donors and service dog organizations. Organizations have utilized data to effectively communicate their outcomes, engage key decision-makers, and secure additional financial support for their initiatives and the service members they support.
We believe that every person's life can benefit and be enriched by the companionship of a Pawsitive Pup like Rook. Just like Rook, we want to empower people through the love of dogs.
