Despite their standing as human's best friends, not all dogs are trainable.

Through the course of its service work, Phoenix Assistance Dogs (PAD) of Central Pennsylvania encounters dogs that aren't necessarily suitable for its specific type of training. PAD is very much in tune with the fact that ultimately what's best for dogs is also what's best for humans.

"I would consider myself an expert on service dogs, but not on pets," said Linzey Zoccola, the director of PAD, who founded the organization in 2009. "We work with dogs that are confident and strong. Our program helps individuals with disabilities locate and train service dogs. We guide them in the training of their service dogs."

An all-volunteer organization, PAD of Central Pennsylvania, which operates a training center in Ephrata, finds dogs, trains them or enlists the assistance of trainers to provide service dogs for people with a wide array of disabilities.

But what happens when dogs don't possess the personality for service, when they aren't suited for that particular line of work? Would-be service dogs can become working release dogs, emotional support dogs, facility dogs or simply pets.

"If somebody would like a pet, yes, dogs would make a good pet," said Zoccola. "But service dogs are very different than pets. When their (environments) change, they can't shut down. We only place dogs who love to work. I'm very quick to release a service dog as a pet if it's not working out as a working dog."

Dogs are introduced into PAD's 24-month training program as pups. About half of those that enter exit as service dogs.

At any one time, there are between 12 and 25 dogs involved in PAD's training program.

"The volunteer gets the option to adopt the dog if it doesn't work out, unless there's a safety concern," said Zoccola. "Some dogs might not be good with children. (Volunteers) would get the first chance at adoption. If they don't want it, we would put it up for adoption. Occasionally, (the dog) could find another job. They could be a facility dog or work in a school district. But people love to adopt dogs with service backgrounds."

For its training programs, PAD primarily works with golden retrievers, labradors and poodles, or some combination of those three breeds. But there are other breeds that can be trained to be service dogs.

"We've had all sorts of dogs be successful; it all depends on the dogs," said Zoccola. "We're very small. We take our time. We want to help people who don't fit into molds. When we started, we were training one dog at a time. It was really incredible to make relationships with our partners. We don't use a kennel. We work with owners and trainers."

Service dogs had a profound effect on Zoccola's earlier life, and those experiences provided the inspiration for establishing Phoenix Assistance Dogs of Central Pennsylvania.

"I've been heavily involved in the industry for 26 years," said Zoccola, a resident of Lititz. "I received my first service dog at 16, and it changed my life. Since PAD was founded, we've placed over 200 service dogs across the country. Most are owner-trained and some are program-trained."

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