Canine Companions pair 13 service animals with human companions: 'such a joyful gift'
ORLANDO - It was Graduation Day and Adoption Day for 13 service dogs who were paired with their human companions – adults, children, and veterans with disabilities.
Meet Mia and Timber
What they're saying:
Mia Ives-Rublee was paired with her service companion, Timber. The two spent two weeks together in a "training dorm" to get to know each other, understand the commands, and to begin working together.
"She is able to pull my wheelchair. She is able to get things off the ground for me. Push buttons. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but the cross street buttons are often in inaccessible locations – so you’re sitting there like, oh my god, I can’t cross the street!' But with her, I’m able to tell her to go push the button."
She's grateful to everyone involved with the organization who helped pair her with Timber.
"These dogs are being trained throughout their life to the point that it is almost inaccessible for most people to be able to get a highly trained service dog. But Canine Companions actually provides these to us for free. The graciousness of the donors and the puppy raisers, etc. are just outstanding and I can’t appreciate them enough for training these puppies, raising these puppies and allow us to receive such a joyful gift," she said.
New service dogs begin their training
Big picture view:
It also marked the start of training for 33 dogs who will undergo training to hopefully become service dogs in the future. It's a tall task as roughly 50% ultimately make it to graduation.
"These dogs truly have to be the best of the best. They have to be safe out in public. They have to be able to perform all of the tasks that they need to task. They need to be reliable. So we really make sure we only choose the dogs that fit all of those standards," said Cathy Rodgers, Executive Director of Canine Companions.
Bill Gordon is a volunteer and a puppy raiser. He has helped raise 14 pups to become service dogs. On this day, he was dropping off Julian to begin his service dog journey.
"It’s a happy-sad day. Happy for the recipients. The people that are receiving the dogs. And a sad day for us because we’re losing a part of our family, but when you keep things in perspective and you think about the big picture of Canine Companions, it is really why we are doing this and we hope Julian the best. We hope that he does well in his next stage of training and that he gets placed," he said.
About Canine Companions
The backstory:
Canine Companions is a non-profit organization that trains and provides free service dogs for people with disabilities, as well as facility dogs that work with professionals in visitation, education, or healthcare environments.
Since it was founded in the 1975s, more than 8,500 dogs have been paired with human companions.
What you can do:
There are plenty of ways to get involved with Canine Companions, including volunteering, applying to be a puppy raiser, applying to be a breeder caretaker, among other roles.
Click here for more information on how to apply for a service dog, facility dog, or medical alert dog.
The Source: FOX 35's Amanda Mckenzie attended graduation day for Canine Companions. Additional information from the organization's website.