CCI Places First Facility Dog At A Major Wounded Warrior Medical Care Center
I attended the Canine Companions for Independence Southwest Regional Center (SWR) graduation in Oceanside, CA last Saturday, and one of the graduating teams was a Facility Dog, Tommy III, along with therapists from the Naval Medical Center San Diego, Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care, better known as C5.
L to R: NMCSD C5 therapists April [...]
Maggie Thatcher To Open New Canine Partners Assistance Dog Facilities
Canine Partners, the premier assistance dog organization in the UK, will be opening a major new training facility at its site on June 2nd, and former Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher will be present for the dedication. Read more here.
It’s fantastic to see recognized top-notch service dog organizations getting this high level of attention, and [...]
How To Be Smarter Than Celebrities Are About Service Dog Programs
Based on some of the things I’ve been reading online and seeing on TV today, looks like it’s a really good time to say this yet again:
I don’t care if you “heard about it on Oprah”, or you read about it here on my blog, or a well-known veterans organization is associated with it, or [...]
Sometimes We Service Dog Supporters Are Our Own Worst Enemies
Many years ago, in one of the Air Force flying units I was assigned to, a bunch of the Spanish linguists (still all male at the time, BTW) were standing around complaining and moaning about how they were getting jobbed (I’ve cleaned that up considerably) by the Air Force, the major command we were in, [...]
CCI Graduate Cole Massie Can Now Add “Surfer” To His List of Achievements
Cole Massie and his tremendous assistance dog Ilia are pretty famous. They have their own PSA you may have seen on TV and a YouTube video that I’ve often said should be the recruiting video for CCI. Show that video to a group of potential volunteers, check to see who’s crying when it’s over and [...]
Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride Rolls Through Annapolis
Nice article about the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride rolling through Annapolis yesterday – definitely watch the slide show:
“Residents, mids honors Wounded Warriors with bike ride”
This is the sixth year for the ride, which kicked off at the White House on Thursday. You can check the entire schedule for the rest of this year’s ride [...]
Which is Worse – To Pet a Service Dog, or To Call a Pet a Service Dog?
No question, both are demeaning to service dogs, but I vote for the second one.
Petting a service dog is a continuing problem, seems to respond to education, might actually be becoming less of a problem, doesn’t result in more bogus service dogs, and is normally done by people who don’t know any better (even though [...]
Places You Should Know: Assistance Dogs International (ADI) Accredited Members
It’s no big secret that I’m actively involved as a volunteer with Canine Companions for Independence, but, as I’ve said, they aren’t the only game in town, and I think this is a good time to start writing about some of the other great service dog organizations that I’m aware of. I will likely intersperse [...]
