Last Monday, Dash and I had the opportunity to speak to a local chapter of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. The GFWC is an international women's organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service and has partnered with Canine Companions for Independence in supporting the Wounded Veterans Initiative. This initiative places CCI assistance dogs with injured service men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Just like all of Canine Companions' dogs, they are given to the vets free of charge!
I really enjoyed meeting with the women of the General Federation of Women's Club and having the chance to speak on behalf of the North Central Region of Canine Companions for Independence. Besides giving a demonstration of some of the ways Dash assists me on a daily basis and the four categories of dogs CCI offers, I also spent some time explaining the life cycle of a Canine Companions dog. I'd like to share about that life cycle again in this blog post - using Dash as an example, of course!
PUPPIES!
Along with all of Canine Companions for Independence's puppies, Dash was bred and born in California. CCI's breeding pool consists only of Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers, so all offspring are either purebred or a cross between the two. People often assume that Dash is a pure black lab, but I'll let you in on a secret - his mama was a black lab but his papa was yellow! In addition to that, he also has some golden retriever in his bloodline. That's right. Dash is a lab/golden cross!
PUPPY RAISERS!
At about 8 weeks of age the pups are taken to CCI Headquarters in Santa Rosa, California. From there, they are shipped all over the country to meet their respective puppy raisers! Puppy raisers are amazing people who are responsible for not only caring for their pups, but also for teaching them 30 commands and socializing them to as many sights, sounds, smells, textures, people, animals, and everything else there is as possible. Dash was raised by a wonderful couple named Jim and Sandy in Pennsylvania. Dash was not the first dog that Jim and Sandy raised - in fact, they recently turned in their seventh puppy, Montego, for Advanced Training!
 |
| Jim & Sandy with itty bitty baby Dash! |
 |
| This is Dash in his first training cape. CCI dogs-in-training wear yellow capes/vests. |
 |
| In his big boy yellow vest. On the puppy raisers' list of things to introduce the dog to is a mascot. Check that off the list! |
Once the pups-in-training are of age, they are turned in at the matriculation/graduation ceremony. More on that in a bit!
ADVANCED TRAINING!
After about 18 months of growing and learning with their puppy raisers, the dogs go to one of 5 regional CCI training facilities for advanced training, aka "doggy college"! Dash was sent to the North Central Region which is in Delaware, Ohio. In advanced training the dogs learn commands they would use as working dogs such and turning light switches on and off and pulling doors open.
 |
| I know Dash is one of these, but I couldn't tell ya which one! (I could tell you which one he isn't, though!) |
It is also at this time that some dogs may be dismissed from the program for any number of reasons such as health issues, fear, aggression, or just a lack of desire to work. In fact, about 60% of all the dogs are released from the program! These dogs are referred to as "change of career" dogs and either return to their puppy raiser family or a friend of the puppy raiser family who has a bond with the dog, or can go to someone on the long waiting list of people who would love to have one of these beautiful dogs. Once a dog is released from the program it becomes a typical pet - at least a typical pet who knows about 30 commands! I've noticed that many change of career dogs go on to be therapy dogs of some sort.
Advanced Training lasts for about 6 months, at which point the dog has the opportunity to be placed with its forever person in Team Training!
TEAM TRAINING!
Team Training is a two week time period where those people who have waited faithfully for their service dog come to one of the 5 training facilities to learn how to work with the dogs and be paired with the ideal dog for each person. I waited for three years before I got the call that I had a spot open for me in Team Training! In a future post (or series of posts), I will recap my time in TT.
 |
| Tamale was one of the dogs I worked with in our Team Training class. Tamale ended up with a nice guy named Tom. |
 |
| Pay attention, Dash! |
 |
| Our class ended up with 3 black labs, 5 yellow, and 1 golden retriever! (Labs or lab-golden crosses, that is!) |
GRADUATION/MATRICULATION!
The grand finale of Team Training is graduation day, which is also turn-in (matriculation) that I mentioned earlier. This is such a special day! Each graduate gets to meet and have lunch with the person who raised their puppy, and then during the ceremony the puppy raisers hand the leash over to the new graduate. It is a powerful moment for all involved. Two dreams are fulfilled on graduation day: Puppy Raisers the dog they raised graduate, and the graduates get their wonderful service dogs!
 |
| This was the moment Jim & Sandy handed me Dash's leash at graduation! |
 |
| This is Montego at his matriculation ceremony. Dash and I attended to cheer him on and cheer Jim & Sandy up as they said goodbye to this beautiful pup. As you can see, matriculating dogs get to wear a cape of honor for the event - out of the yellow but yet to have an official service dog vest! |
LIFE!
This is the stage we are in now. Dash does life with me - accompanying me almost everywhere I go. My life is only better for having him - independence, confidence, and joy are but a few of the gifts Dash has helped me to gain.
My hope is that Dash will work until he is an old man dog. Each dog is different, but eventually service dogs retire into pet-dom. With monitoring, a Dash's retirement (hopefully) can be predicted, at which point I will reapply for a successor dog. Successor dogs are usually provided within about six months of application, because Canine Companions knows that once a person lives with a service dog, living without is a real challenge.
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment