By TR Robertson
There were eleven extremely happy individuals, families and organizations on Thursday at the Canine Companions Graduation Ceremony held at North Coast Church in Vista. These expertly trained service dogs and their new handlers participated in a ceremony that also featured forty-five Matriculating Service Dogs and their Volunteer Puppy Raisers. A large audience with current trainers, volunteers, donors, friends and family members and other interested supporters of Canine Companions watched the presentations.
Stephanie Yocum, Puppy Program Manager, presented the Matriculating Class which featured video pictures of the service dog as a puppy and the names of the Puppy Raisers. A video was also shown of the Graduating service dogs and their Puppy Raisers. An additional video showed the individuals, family or organization the service dog was matched with and comments that told the importance of the training these dogs have received and what they will mean to the lives of the new owners. Following the ceremony the audience heard from a Class Speaker, facilitators Daniel and Amy with Service Dog Taelin.
The five steps going from Puppy to Service Dog include: Step 1 – Specially bred Canine Companion puppies are born into the homes of loving volunteers; Step 2 – The puppies are socialized and nurtured by volunteer puppy raisers for 16 months; Step 3 – Professional training starts for puppies at 16-18 months; Step 4 – Trained Service Dogs are matched with a person with a disability; and Step 5 – Graduation and the new owners independence is increased for years to come. As well as helping children and adults with disabilities, some of the service dogs go to organizations that assist people with disabilities and provide services such as assisting with relieving stress with individuals in the organization. One of the Service Dogs, Amicus, was sponsored in partnership with the University of San Diego School of Law.
64 million Americans live with a disability, yet only a fraction have access to a trained service dog. Canine Companions provides service dogs to adults, children, and veterans with disabilities and facility dogs to professionals working in healthcare, criminal justice and educational settings at no cost to clients. Canine Companions was established in 1975 and has six regions across the country serving all 50 states. The Southwest Region Campus is located at 124 Rancho del Oro Drive in Oceanside.
If you are interested in sponsoring a puppy, go to www.canine.org/sponsorapuppy. To learn more about becoming a puppy raiser, go to www.canine.org/raise. If you are interested in volunteering at Canine Companions, go to www.canine.org/volunteer. If you shop online for your pet at Chewy and go to www.canine.org/Chewy, Chewy will donate 10% of the proceeds from your order to Canine Companions.
