1 - Find just 3 people who have the belief in this effort that you do.  Actually sit down and interview them one by one to make sure they have the dedication, verbal skills and are presentable for approaching school administrators and executive directors at the non profits you'll attempt to contact.  I suggest you actually sit and interview them as if hiring them for a job to make sure you work well together and have similar goals.

2 - Once you have 3 that you are totally comfortable with, decide on a name for the group.  If you would like to use ''21st Century CARES - (your city here)'' you can do that and I'll obviously have all your info already on the website as to what this org does for easy reference and access. No charge.  I'll even design a page listing any interested group by location and name with contact info.  In other words, you'd have a website, your own page and all the web info, costs, etc are mine.  Of course, you can also come up with your own name for the group.  In my opinion, there is no need to become a non profit all on your own, but that will be the decision of your 3 front line founders

Bringing a dog or two is ALWAYS fun for the students.  I usually took all five of mine.  I'd always begin by asking the teacher if anyone is afraid of dogs or had any allergies to them. If so, they were ok'd to sit  away from the dogs and near a trusted adult. We cannot have screams & shrieks or kids getting sick. I was clear to the kids that I'd let them off leash  during my talk if only they would pet them QUIETLY!!  If it became a distraction, I'd call the dogs back and put them on leash and continue.  YOU MUST MAKE CERTAIN THAT THESE DOGS ARE  WELL BEHAVED.  The best means of preventing them from jumping is on leash.  But once students are seated on the floor in a semi circle or in established seating area, the dogs simply move around competing for attention.

3 - Contact me for a listing of materials that you need to focus on as well as other issues you may need to address throughout and I'll email you the links to what I have on the site or provide recommendations.

4 - Make sure all three of you read this material enough times that you can have an intelligent conversation with any other person to show your knowledge and determination.  No need to memorize, but at least to have answers to questions or to begin a good conversation.

5 - Determine which person will actually speak, who will make calls in person and on the phone to set up presentations and the third will be a fill in when 1 and 2 are busy.  Of course as you grow, more people are optional, but to start this, 3 is fine.

6 - If planning to start a larger effort that involves a more expansive area and multiple groups, call an initial meeting and determine level of interest, dedication to the project and again, do your interviews as if hiring for a job.  This is really an excellent opportunity to reach out and share info and build a trusted effort that is recognized.  However,  all you need is one bad apple within this and it's easy to loose everything you've ever done.

7 - Begin making your first calls.  Charter schools are easiest access due to lack of red tape and continuing effort to justify their existence.  Scout troupes, both boy and girl are good. They even offer badges for this.  Boys and Girls clubs usually care for lower income and need positive influence such as this.  According to the National Education Assoc. and the Dept of Education, students k-4 will not be able to absorb the bigger picture or implement the necessary 'reasoning' skills to totally understand. Begin with 5th grade and move up.

Try to make time for a at least an hour with the students. This gives you 45 min and then they still have time for Q and A.  I've always been surprised at just how much the young men and women want to know so they can help.  At first there is no need for you to absorb many printing costs.  Send the teacher or administrator an email with the links from my website regarding the topics you plan to touch on.  Consider a set of FREE online business cards. Simple and effective when meeting potential 'keepers of the keys' as they say.

When scheduling presentations, it's ok for the first few, to attend a single class with just 30-40 students.  But once more comfortable make arrangements to speak to all the 5th graders at that given school, or all the 6th graders at once.  You can also plan to stay at the school for the duration of the school day so you can reach more students.  A successful effort will reach every student (5th grade and older) in a given school in 3 visits or less.

Bolder and more confident speakers can move to the 7th, 8th grades and even high schools.  Sometimes this age group can be inattentive or even disrespectful and you must be prepared.  I have a very quick wit and can put them in place quickly without starting a shouting match or needing to involve the teachers.

A GREAT means of cold calling is "Hello, my name is XXX and I was in your parking lot yesterday with a friend picking up her son/daughter and we met such a nice teacher - she was a real animal lover. I've forgotten her name, can you help me find who this is?"  Every school has a woman teacher who loves animals. They'll put you right through and you begin to talk to her about coming in to speak to her kids.

8 - Take the info I've offered and put it into your very own presentation, print it off in extra large text and bring it with you so you can quickly refer to it on those occasions when you go blank or forget a detail.

This site has articles on how landlords can learn to accept larger dogs to avoid them ending up at pounds, how to know your insurance coverage for having dogs, how children learn from programs like this, how dogs help prisoners exit the system better after interacting with them, how young kids grow up with fewer allergies when living with an inside dog or cat, and so much more.

YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL:

EVERYONE MUST BE ABLE TO PROUDLY SPEAK OUT WHEN SOMEONE IS NOT GIVING THEIR PET THE PROPER CARE AND NECESSARY MEDICAL TREATMENT. YOU CANNOT ALLOW FAMILY, FRIENDS OR RELATIVES TO ABUSE NOR NEGLECT THEIR PETS. IF YOU CAN'T SAY IT TO THEM DIRECTLY THEN CALL AUTHORITIES AND LET THEM DETERMINE THEIR FATE. IF YOU SEE A DOGGY TIED TO A STAKE WITH A 6 FT CHAIN, JUST THINK HOW HORRIBLE THAT WOULD BE IF YOU WERE HIM. THINK HOW IGNORANT THE HUMAN IS THAT IS DOING THAT TO THE POOR DOG. IF YOU ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE BY NOT SPEAKING OUT, YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH TO BLAME FOR THE POOR DOG'S SITUATION AND JUST AS ABUSIVE AS THE PERSON WHO DID THAT.

MAKE A CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO STOP OGLING OVER THOSE WHO HAVE LITTERS OF PUPPIES OR KITTENS. There is no justifiable reason to praise these folks for contributing to the biggest problem we have - over-population!