Good Dog – Making the connections that every dog deserves and every human can trust

The system for finding our canine friends is broken. For far too long, irresponsible sources have thrived off of well-intentioned people not knowing how to spot and avoid them. And the ease of setting up a storefront online is just making the problem worse and worse. Even if prospective dog owners are on the lookout, they often don’t know what to look for and may end up unknowingly buying or adopting puppies from irresponsible sources. This not only harms dogs by fueling the broken system, but often results in complications for dog owners such as unexpected health or behavioral issues. Though the dog world may not agree on everything, we can all agree that we need to do better for our dogs.

This is when Good Dog comes in. The company is dedicated to making sure dogs have better beginnings and improved welfare throughout their lives. They make it simple for people to get dogs from good sources and for reputable breeders, shelters and rescues to put their dogs in good homes. And they provide all the support and guidance you need to feel confident every step of the way. For Good Dog, dogs are more than just pets — they're tail-wagging, best-friending, sometimes shoe-chewing members of the family. But the system for getting a new dog is broken, and dogs are suffering. The ease of setting up a storefront online is making the problem worse and worse. Well-intentioned people, who just want to give a dog a good home, don't know who they can trust. This is the reason they started Good Dog to change all that. All dogs deserve the best chance at a healthy, well-adjusted life in a loving home. Good Dog has created a set of standards in collaboration with leading veterinary and animal welfare science experts that puts the health and well-being of dogs first. They screen every member of their community for responsible practices and are committed to helping people find a dog from a source that prioritizes the welfare of their dogs.

Why Good Dog

Health & Behavior First: All dogs deserve the best chance at a healthy, well-adjusted life in a loving home. Good Dog has created a set of standards in collaboration with leading veterinary and animal welfare science experts that puts the health and well-being of dogs first. They screen every member of their community for responsible practices and are committed to helping people find a dog from a source that prioritizes the welfare of their dogs.

Making Quality Accessible: For far too long, finding a dog the right way has been left to chance. Irresponsible sources have thrived off of well-intentioned people who simply don't know how to spot and avoid them. Even if prospective dog owners are on the lookout, they don't always know what to look for and many end up unknowingly buying or adopting puppies from irresponsible sources. Their goal is to bring quality sources together into one community and provide the education and expertise necessary to find a dog the right way.

A Better System: By bringing together the power of technology with the best information and experts in the dog world, they're on a tireless mission to give dogs better beginnings. They believe that transparency and accountability can give good people the power to make a difference; by creating a place where well-informed prospective owners can meet dedicated, responsible sources, they'll help put an end to inhumane, unethical, deceptive practices.

From good to great — Good Dog's community standards

Good Dog's mission is to promote responsible breeders and push out the disreputable sources while also working to improve the standards in the dog world overall, as a community. In order to push out the disreputable sources, they need to help buyers find dogs in a responsible way and avoid turning to bad sources out of desperation or a lack of education. In order to make a positive change and succeed in improving the standards overall, they need to work together as a community to strive towards best practices. By bringing together an inclusive group of leading experts from across a variety of fields and uniting as a community committed to being a force for good, they can harness the collective passion that has so far been scattered in many directions and turn it into a practical shared framework centered on responsible practices and healthier dogs.

Good Dog's approach is to keep perfect from being the enemy of the good by establishing community standards that allow us to work with breeders whose programs range from meeting their entry-level community standards to being the best of the best. This allows us to reach breeders who are eager to learn and improve and be able to provide them resources in order to help them do so, while simultaneously recognizing the breeders whose programs have already reached a high level of achievement. The different levels of recognition for health testing practices set forth in their Good Dog Guide to Health Testing that range from Good to Great to Excellent, provide a breed-specific roadmap for breeders to refine their practices and in doing so, improve the health of millions of dogs for generations to come.

Josh Wais | Co-Founder & CEO

Wais put in his experience in entrepreneurship, and especially scaling, to good use for the market need he identified: the lack of a central resource for the dog-acquiring market and founded Good Dog.

"We believe every dog should have a good home so our goal is to make sure good always ends up with good — from good breeders and good shelters, to good dog owners."