If you?ve resolved to find a meaningful way to help people and the animals that aid them this coming year, here?s one thought: volunteer to raise a puppy.
Canine Companions for Independence, a national nonprofit which provides trained assistance dogs free of charge?to people with disabilities, relies on volunteers to help socialize the dogs before their formal career training begins.
?We call it getting ready for college,? says Susan Manuel, president of CCI?s Cascade Chapter and a volunteer puppy raiser. ?There are certain things you have to learn, you have to be a certain level of maturity and have some life experience to be successful in college. It?s kind of the same thing with these dogs.?
Socializing is a key factor in prepping the puppies for their future careers because the work they will do is vital to their future owner?s well-being.
They need to be able to behave properly while their handler is at work and out and about, so the puppy raisers provide the dogs with basic obedience training and expose them to as many people and places as possible. Dogs often accompany them to work, out shopping and even on vacation.
The California-based nonprofit, established in 1975, trains four types of assistance dogs to help people who have physical or developmental disabilities; are hearing-impaired; or who need comfort in a health care, courtroom or educational setting.
The puppies are bred by volunteer breeder caretakers, who must live within 90 miles of the organization?s headquarters in Santa Rosa, Calif. All of the dogs are either Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers or a cross of the two.
Becoming a puppy raiser
The puppies spend their first eight weeks in a volunteer breeder caretaker?s home, then go through a health check and are shipped out to one of the 1,050 puppy raisers in five regions around the country. They?ll live in the volunteers? homes for the next 16 to 18 months.
Puppy raisers don?t have to be dog experts by any means. In fact, some volunteers have never even owned a dog before.
?We have people that come to us with zero dog experience and have never had a dog before in their life,? says Heather Ohmart, a contract trainer for CCI and volunteer puppy raiser. ?It?s something most anybody can do.?
New volunteers are equipped with a manual, video, and classroom support from fellow CCI volunteers.
The assistance offered by fellow volunteers was a big bonus for Manuel, who has owned dogs before but never raised a puppy. Now, she?s caring for her fifth.
A software engineer for Hewlett-Packard, Manuel was inspired to socialize puppies after seeing a co-worker get involved. She contacted him, and was caring for a puppy about six weeks later.
?I love the idea of combining my love of dogs with helping people,? she says.
Her participation with CCI has connected her to a whole new community, she says. What?s more, the trademark blue-and-yellow capes often inspire others to inquire about the dogs.
?You find connections everywhere and it?s such a wonderful thing,? Manuel says. ?It?s given me a whole world I never even knew about.?
Ohmart stepped up after hearing a CCI graduate do a presentation about the importance of service dogs in her life.?
The woman was on a waiting list for her next service dog after the previous one passed away. Without a dog to assist her, she said, she was unable to leave her home independently without her husband or children.
?I filled out an application on the spot,? says Ohmart, who also works with female inmates in CCI?s puppy training program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.
Prospective puppy raisers should have no more than three dogs at home already. Kids are fine ? the more opportunities to socialize, the better ? but people with infants are encouraged to hold off until the children are a little more self-sufficient.
Puppy raisers should also be financially capable of caring for the dogs and be able to afford food, medical care, training and transportation (all of which should be tax-deductible, but check with your tax adviser first).
Traits that make good puppy raisers include consistency, reliability and an appreciation for CCI?s mission.
Volunteering is ideal for families with teenagers, Manuel points out, and makes for a good senior-year project. It?s also a good way to introduce potential owners to daily life with dogs on a short-term basis.
One of the most common questions Manuel and Ohmart frequently hear is, how can they ever give the puppies up?
Some won?t have to. Some dogs are released from the program, and their puppy raisers have the first right of adoption to those dogs.
Those that do graduate help their new handlers so much that their stories are inspiration enough to wipe away the tears and turn over the leash, Ohmart says
For instance, there?s Vancouver resident Mary Williams, who relies on her hearing dog Suzanne the Second to navigate her through her now-silent world.
After losing her hearing, she no longer felt safe going for walks because she couldn?t hear people coming behind her.
?My world became smaller,? she says.
Suzanne expanded it again. The hearing dog, which has been with Williams for eight years, recognizes at least 30 sounds, ranging from the doorbell and phone to a honking car horn.
?The deafness kind of clipped my wings,? Williams says, ?and Suzie gave them back.?
To volunteer as a CCI puppy raiser:
Visit the website for more information and to fill out the volunteer application: cci.org. Call Susan Manuel, president of CCI?s Cascade Chapter, with questions at 971-533-7458.
If you think you might want to raise a puppy, you can start by filling out an application online. The application process usually involves a phone interview and a home visit to make sure your home is safe for a puppy.
--Monique Balas
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2012/12/pet_talk_volunteer_puppy_raise.html
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