JESSICA J GLEASON

Founder

Jessica Gleason founded Pups with a Purpose in 2019 with a mission to help people and dogs find their purpose through dog therapy visits! Her work with therapy dogs started shortly after adopting Stanley, a lab pitbull mix in 2018. At just under a year old, he showed great promise to make a wonderful therapy dog. He was calm, sensitive to people's emotions, and Jessica had worked immensely on building his confidence in various environments. As soon as he turned a year old, they tested and became certified as a therapy dog team. She quickly noticed a need in her community for quality training programs to prepare dogs and their handlers for a therapy dog test and also prepare these teams to successfully work in sometimes very stressful situations and environments. Jessica set off to create her own programs that provided therapy dog training, testing, mentorship for new teams, and volunteer opportunities. Jessica holds a degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Educational Psychology from UNO and is a Professional Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals. She has pulled inspiration for her training programs from years of experience working with children in educational and therapeutic settings, as well as, mentoring under dog trainers working with a wide range of behavioral issues.

Pups with a Purpose's volunteer group currently has over 50 therapy dog teams (and growing) that actively complete over 25 monthly therapy dog visits at schools, hospitals, assisted living centers and more! Jessica and her team have trained dozens of professional therapy dogs to work alongside their handlers in schools, therapist offices, police departments, and non profit organizations.