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Instead of asking for donations to cover the administration of the organization, we would like to develop a valuable product that educates and entertains, as well as helps us to fulfill our mission – to create projects with added value.

The uniqueness of the card game lies in the content of the cards. Both children and adults will have an opportunity to learn about 15 different dog professions described in the booklet attached to the cards. The cards will feature realistic portraits of dogs that perform some kind of an important function – police dogs looking for explosives, therapy dogs helping children with disabilities, guide dogs helping people move around safely and many others. Dog personalities will be selected not only from Latvia, but also from foreign organizations.

Unfortunately, this is not a fairy tale but rather a small ray of light and joy for those children who will never grow up – just like Peter Pan. The goal of this project is to attract funds that will cover the visits of therapy dogs to children with mental disabilities who live in social care centres in Riga. Our little patients are visited twice a month. 

The main goal of the social care centre is ensuring that the children’s basic needs are met and teaching them how to take care of themselves. The children are not the only ones who benefit from the therapy dogs – the work in the care centre can be emotionally challenging at times, so the employees also can benefit from these visits. With the help of the dogs, the children become more positive, they learn to deal with their fears and anxiety easier and become more interested in learning about their environment, nature and everything that surrounds them.

Urban-Dog Fest was no doubt the friendliest event in the city, and every dog-loving person was invited to attend. The event was a great opportunity to make new friends (for both – people and dogs), to learn a lot of valuable things about dog care from experts, buy delicious snacks, accessories and toys and enjoy different lectures and watch open-air cinema. 

We, here at “A Dog with a Mission”, believe that communication is the basis of great and mutually beneficial relationships not only between humans but also between a human and their pet. We always have to be open to learning new things not only about how to be good owners to our pets but also how to be good members of society for the sake of other pets. We constantly must educate ourselves about how animals communicate, their body language, different signals they display in different situations and what the best response to those signals is, and a lot more. These things will allow us to avoid unpleasant or even dangerous situations. 

Status: Completed. Active September 28, 2019
“A Dog with a Mission” collaborated with a well-known open-air marketplace in Āgenskalns, Riga to organize the first ever “WOOFSTOCK”.
This event will always have a special place in our hearts because here we officially announced our organization, and introduced our future project ideas and our team to everyone.
Dogs of all shapes and sizes were welcomed to join the event; no entrance fee was charged.
Around 80 dog owners and their dogs attended the event to see and hear different lectures on various subjects. Some of them included:
Choosing the right breed for you and your lifestyle,
Ensuring a safe and friendly environment in families with dogs and small children,
How to train your dog,
How to safely transport your dog in a car, etc.
Officers from the K-9 unit visited the event with their specially trained police dogs for an exemplary performance, dog trainers shared some valuable advice, and a dog obedience contest took place for everyone who was willing to participate.
Meanwhile, the marketplace was open for different activities:

• interaction with therapy dogs,
• dog toy swapping,
• vendors were selling dog treats, toys, and accessories,
• artists did portraits of dogs,
• a photo booth was available to cherish the memory of “WOOFSTOCK”.

During the Covid-19 pandemic people finally realized what it is like staying at home all day long, not being able to leave the house and go outside. For many pets, especially those who live in big cities and shelters, #stayhome is their everyday life. Now we know how they feel. “Now you know what life is like within four walls…” was the motto of the campaign aimed at raising donations for the animal shelter “Labās mājas” (“The Good Home”). That was not the only aim of the campaign, however – the initiators also wanted to educate society about how the donations to animal shelters were spent, and to eliminate the stereotype that most of the money is spent on food. 
“Labās mājas” is one of the first animal shelters in Riga, and the founder of “A Dog with a Mission” Liene Šterberga has been their supporter and friend since 2019. A big surprise to Liene, as well as the rest of the team, was the fact that an animal shelter that is up to European standards can survive exclusively on donations. This is even more surprising considering that “Labās mājas” focus more on quality than quantity, prioritising the well-being of rescued animals and ensuring that they receive quality food, top medical care, and proper living conditions. After the first visit, it became clear that “A Dog with a Mission” and “Labās mājas” values are similar, hence Liene’s involvement in the “Now You Know” campaign. Our organization supported the campaign mainly with different public relations tools and activities to increase awareness of the shelter, the campaign and to attract donations. 
To learn more about the campaign go to (in Latvian): https://patversme.lv/tagad-tu-saproti-paliecmacas/

There are very few assistance dogs in Latvia trained to lead blind or visually impaired people. For every 677 people with visual impairments, there is just one assistance dog (and there are 9478 people with visual impairments in Latvia!).

When we learnt about this, we developed a social campaign called “Eyes Go to School” whose central figure was Joko – a young Labrador lady who has a lot of potential to become the next assistance dog in Latvia, trained specifically for people with visual impairments. 

With the help of society and socially responsible companies, we raised 6198 EUR over a 5-month period. The campaign ended in September when Joko started her training.
The main goal of the campaign was not only raising funds to support the training of assistance dogs but also raising awareness and informing society about the visually impaired people and the help they require on a daily basis.

The campaign also participated in “Mi:t & Links. Baltic Communication Awards 2019” where it was awarded 2nd prize in the category “No Budget Campaign”.

Considering the campaign’s success in Latvia, we dream of expanding globally. It would provide a great opportunity for organizations, which train assistance dogs, to raise awareness of their mission, and of people with vision impairments and their needs all over the world.