Article by hannah craford

Raising Companions

By Hannah Craford

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yellow vest is all that separates a bubbly young black lab, from a calm collected service dog in training. Meet Ming, a 6 and a half month old labrador, golden retriever mix. Her genetics were calculated and her parents matched by scientists in a lab. Since before her birth, her life was meant to serve one purpose, to be trained as a service dog.

This training is not what one may think of as normal dog training. The dogs don’t just learn how to pee outside, sit, down, and shake, and they aren’t given a paper certificate at the end of a few weeks training. These dogs are trained from day one on how to serve those who need assistance. Volunteer puppy raisers spend a year and a half acclimating the dogs to life as a canine

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companion. During this time the dogs are trained on how to walk, act, and even speak like service dogs.

Ming is part of a non-profit organization called Canine Companions for Independence. CCI is a nationally recognized company that raises dogs for people with disabilities ranging from PTSD to people who suffer from paralysis. Over the years CCI has become a prominent force in the service dog

They are companions who work hard at their jobs.

Twenty pounds of fluff and pure energy is what a puppy raiser is handed after all the paperwork has been filled out. The dog is handed off to the raiser along with a small cape, list of commands and binder of rules. From that moment on the young dog ,with an obscure name, is in the hands of the puppy raiser. The puppy raising process is an ordeal that

“You really have to raise the dogs to be able to consistently learn new things” world. The organization has given dogs to thousands of people. These dogs are the cream of the crop, with a 47% graduation rate it is obvious that only the best graduate as service dogs.

However, this statistic does not diminish the focus and effort these dogs put into their training.

From birth, to the puppy raisers home, to college, to working, to retirement these dogs live to serve and love to serve.

involves way more than just potty training. A list of commands ranging from sit to under are expected to be taught to the dogs by the time they matriculate to their next stage of the training process. Along with the command training, the dogs are also taught how to act like a service dog. “You really have to raise the dogs to be able to consistently learn new things and to be able to consistently grow and adapt”, Cassidy Craford, a four time puppy raiser said.

The reason for this being, “ that is what they are going to need to do when they get to advanced training and that is what they are going to need to do when they become a partner for

Hard work, consistency, and constant care are all factors that can affect the dog’s service capabilities.

The process is one that does not differ too much from raising a child. CCI South

that”(Guzman).

The training process is not easy, it takes time and energy to insure that the dogs learn everything they need in order to graduate. However, even

“in the end it’s up to the dog” someone”. However, the training process does not start with the first puppy class. The process begins the day the young puppies meet their new owners, the puppy raisers. After eight weeks of playing with their mom under the care of the Breeder Caretakers, the puppies are taken to Santa Rosa, CA. There, at the headquarters of CCI, the puppies are kept until the puppy raiser comes to get them. The raisers travel from all over the US to come and pick up their puppies.

Some say that the first car ride home can be a glimpse into the traits the dog will have, but whether the dog is quiet or cries through the journey home is no indication to whether or not he/she will become a service dog.

Bay Chapter President and long time puppy raiser, Sue Guzman, describes her puppy raising experience as just that, “I am sure it’s true for human parents too, when you think you have got a certain path that your child is going to take and then they end up doing something completely different and it wasn’t what you had in mind”.

Guzman is currently raising her tenth puppy, and keeps this ideal in mind. “It doesn’t mean that it is wrong, or that they aren’t going to be happy, it just wasn’t what you thought it was going to be.

And you have to come to terms with

if the puppy raisers stick to the script throughout the whole process, there is no guarantee that the dog will graduate. “Something Michelle and I really had to come to terms with is [t h at] we

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might be the best puppy raisers in the world but if we got a dog that just doesn’t want to do this, it doesn’t matter how good we are. Because in the end it’s up to the dog” (Guzman).

The constant attention and training the dogs receive is crucial to the training process Craford insists. She states that “ you can’t just take them to a few classes when they are young and they will remember everything clearly forever”(Craford).

Consistency is key in training the dogs, not only to work as service animals, but also in conditioning them for whatever path they end up on. For most raisers, the constant attention and consistent training is not hard. Guzman states that “One of the best parts about puppy raising is being able to be connected 24 hours a day 7 days a week for a year and a half with this wonderful animal

Over that year and a half process, the dogs’ lives are filled with new and exciting experiences. The cape they wear in public allows to for the dogs to be

admitted into places that average pets wouldn’t be allowed to go. Some puppy raisers take their dogs to work, others do the errands with the dog in tow. Every week there is a one to two hour training class held for each CCI chapter. At these classes both the dog and the raiser work on new skills

for the class to go on field trips too. The puppy raisers take the dogs to local malls, movie theaters and even the airport. The more exposure the dogs get, the better equipped they will be when it comes time to matriculate to advanced training or “college” as some call it.

One experience that dogs are faced with during this process is discrimination as a result of service dog fraud.

Service dog fraud is becoming a more and more pressing issue in today’s society. When dog owners try and pass off their pets as service dogs, they risk bringing the credibility of a hard working and morally correct society down. The disabled community is ostracized and mistreated enough, and by committing service dog fraud, people are further harming a community that deserves nothing but support and companionship.

There

“Your puppy is still an independent entity” that gets to go everywhere and ask the CCI dog trainer are two different types with you, because they any questions they may of working dogs. The are with you all the time”. have. It is not uncommon American with Disabilities 4

Act or ADA defines service dogs as: Dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.

Emotional Support Animals or ESA are another category which the ADA does not recognize. These dogs are considered“Comfort animals” and are not trained to perform a task or service. Both types do need to go through a test

comfortable and happy when my dogs are nearby, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t function without them”, Erin Callaghan, the CCI South Bay Chapter dog trainer, states. She is one of many that feels service dog fraud is a threat to the credential of service dogs.

“I know the people who I see who have service dogs and the difference that they make in their life. If that gets

bothers me” (Callaghan).

The process these dogs go through is hard enough, and is only made harder by degrading their work.

After spending a year and a half with the puppy raisers it comes time for the dogs to move out of the house and go off to advanced training. A few times a year there is a ceremony held at the regional headquarters in which puppies who

or training in order to be considered a service dog. Impersonating either one is considered service dog fraud. “I feel more

degraded, its just makes it so much harder for them to be able to be in a world that is really not designed for them, and it just

have come of age move on to their next stage of training. This ceremony also serves as a graduation for those dogs who have 5

been successfully matched with a human companion.

Advanced training is also referred to as college, because it is the time where the dogs are tested to see if they will become service dogs or not. If the dog is part of the 47% that makes it through, it will then be fitted for a specific task. CCI dogs can become, service dogs, skilled companions, facility dogs or hearing dogs. All four jobs require the dogs to move somewhere new and meet a whole new family.

However, some dogs don’t make the cut to become a service dog. Sometimes the failure is harder on the puppy raisers than on the dog. Guzman, Craford, and Callaghan have all experienced this first hand.

The thing they all agree you have to remember is that, “Your puppy is still an independent entity, still and independent creature, with a mind of its own” (Guzman). While it may seem crazy to become a helicopter parent to a dog, it is entirely possible.

In the end the thing all 6

CCI participants can agree on is that, “Overall the best part is seeing the dogs, whether they graduate or not, bringing a ton of happiness to the people that they are with. Whether they are at home and are someones pet, or if they are helping someone in a wheelchair they are all doing really

good things for people” (Craford). Whether Ming ends up as a service dog or not is up to her, either way she will always be a part of an undeniably wonderful organization.

Work Cited: Callaghan, Erin. Personal Interview. 15 March 2016.

Canine Companions for Independence. Canine Companions for Independence. Website. 20 April 2016 Celeste, Janice. “No Service Dogs Allowed.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Aug. 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.

Craford, Cassidy. Personal Interview. 9 April 2016.

Dibsie, Patricia. Love Heels: Tales from Canine Companions for Independence. New York: Yorkville, 2003. Print.

Guzman, Sue. Personal Interview. 3 March 2016.

Ranish, JoAnne. Personal Interview. 29 March 2016.

“Therapy Dogs International Discriminates Against the Disabled.” Types of Working Dogs.

Service Dog Central, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

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