Al Brittain

“We Have Always Served Veterans”

Al — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:21:13 +0000

Article today at NorthJersey.com (“Canine Corps“) about service dogs for veterans that’s really just so-so (I’ve seen many better, honestly), but there is one key quote in it:

“We have always served veterans … but it wasn’t until around late 2006 that we actually embarked on what we called the Veterans Initiative to make our services known and to target veterans returning home from the current conflict.”

- Clark Pappas, Director of Participant Programs at Canine Companions for Independence

That’s something I’m convinced most people, including veterans - especially veterans, in fact – aren’t aware of, and that we need to continually get across. (Clark is a super guy, BTW, and someone I’m proud to call a friend.)

Canine Companions for Independence New 35th Birthday Logo

Al — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Canine Companions for Independence has a new logo (temporary, I think) celebrating their 35th birthday this year.

Reaction among the CCI faithful has been mixed – the complaints are mostly about the size of the CCI logo in relation to the 35. Fair enough, but I still like it, and here’s why.

I am constantly talking about Canine Companions with people all across the spectrum, from just “the person on the street” all the way through those with a lot more specialized knowledge of and interest in dogs and/or veterans (e.g., military veterinarians). Across the board, the reality is that most don’t know about service dogs in general, much less Canine Companions for Independence in particular. At best, they may know about guide dogs – dogs who assist the blind and visually impaired – and maybe some of the top organizations in that world – Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Seeing Eye, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, etc.

That’s in spite of the fact that CCI is, as best I know, the oldest and largest assistance dog organization in the US, if not the world. Been around 35 years, graduated over 3200+ assistance dog teams (including a record 240 in 2009), 1500+ active graduate teams – you get the picture.

Maybe it’s because I’m so focused on this area, but that lack of knowledge used to surprise me; I’ve experienced it so often now, it doesn’t surprise me anymore. I’ve just reconciled myself to the fact that it will always be a continuing battle to educate everybody about service dogs and CCI.

Because of that, I’m always looking for anything that helps that process, I think this logo does that, and that’s why I like it.

Ophelia And Her Assistant Puppy Raisers

Al — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:00:04 +0000

I said I wasn’t gonna turn this into a puppy raising blog – honestly, I’m not, but can’t resist sharing a picture of Ophelia with her ‘Assistant Puppy Raisers’ Zephan and Bannon.

I really can’t imagine raising a puppy without having help from dogs like this. ‘Help’ meaning the kinda influence these dogs have on a puppy – playing with it, correcting it when necessary, and so on.

Zephan and Bannon are both Canine Companions for Independence ‘release dogs’, i.e., they didn’t make it all the way through the six-month Advanced Training (now properly called Professional Training) where the dogs live at one of the five CCI regional centers and are trained every day by a fantastic staff of professional trainers (takes 3 1/2 years to be a fully qualified trainer at CCI, BTW).

You might think that would make them bad influences for the one you’re currently raising, but that hasn’t been my experience – exactly the opposite, in fact.

I’ll leave the explanations to the all the trainers, behaviorists, or whoever, but what I’ve seen through experience is that dogs routinely change their behavior as they mature and take on that big brother/sister or even surrogate mom/dad role with young puppies. Dogs, for example, who played very roughly when they were puppies (if you’ve been around Labs, you know exactly what I mean; if not, you would likely be shocked by just how roughly they play) but are very patient now that they are older and on the other end of the teeth.

The other part of that is because the standard is so high and the cuts along the way are so fine (only about 1/3 of the dogs make it all the way through the program), the dogs who are released from the program are still wonderful dogs. (Which is one of the reasons they are so much in demand. That’s a discussion for another time, but I will say I always cringe a little when I will see a suggestion out there that you get a dog that’s released from one of the top service dog programs, as if that were easy to do – it’s not.)

That certainly applies to Zephan and Bannon – they are both wonderful dogs, and I can’t begin to tell you how lucky I am to have them in my life.

Schriever Air Force Base Takes Note Of Its Namesake Assistance Dog In Training

Al — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:00:27 +0000

Nice official Air Force follow-up story today about one of the dogs in the KSDS military litter I mentioned last month (“KSDS Names Future Assistance Dog Litter After Military Installations “).

Schriever Air Force Base here in Colorado Springs has a new article both online and in the printed edition of their base newspaper this week about – who else? – their namesake dog, Schriever:

(Click on the image for a nice giant high-resolution version.)

“Assistance-dog training school honors Schriever with namesake“

You can also download the PDF version of the paper here – article is on page 6:

http://csmng.com/wp-files/schriever-sentinel-weekly-pdfs/sentinel_2010-02-18.pdf

I still think this was a great idea, and the local angle for those of us in a big military city like Colorado Springs is an added bonus.

More Of The Same…And Something New

Al — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:00:08 +0000

Well, it’s pretty obvious I haven’t been posting much here.

That’s simply a combination of not seeing a lot to write about, still looking for a way to operate that accomplishes what I want as I’ve already mentioned, and, last, the arrival here a coupla days ago of our latest Canine Companions for Independence puppy, Ophelia.

I’m not gonna turn this into a blog about raising her – there are plenty out there already doing a much better job of describing puppy raising than I ever will. I will say that so far she has been absolutely wonderful and all you could ask for, and I’ve been around enough of them to be able to say that.

As Good As Life Gets

Al — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:49:25 +0000

Most people know Jack Hanna as a famous animal guy and Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, but I’m not sure nearly as many know he’s also been a huge long-time supporter of Canine Companions for Independence and has helped raise many thousands of dollars for the organization.

Jack’s on vacation in Florida right now, and he posted this wonderful picture on Facebook this morning.

“Years ago Sue and I scoped out dog-friendly beaches in FL and then found a small place nearby. Thanks to PetAirways and AirTran, my dogs are in FL with me for the week. This morning I started reading Dean Koontz’s “A Big Little Life”. The book is about his retired Canine Companions for Independence dog – Dean and I are both big supporters of CCI!”

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4466898&id=90183693693

You could find me on the couch in our house doing the same thing a lotta times, and I’ve often said “This is as good as life gets.” when I’ve been doing it. Yeah, I guess I’m just a boring guy, but, you know, that statement is still true, especially in light of so much of what goes on daily in the world.

KSDS Names Future Assistance Dog Litter After Military Installations

Al — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:39:48 +0000

On a happier note than my last two posts…

KSDS, a great small ADI-accredited assistance dog organization in Kansas founded 20 years ago, has a tradition of naming its puppy litters for specific themes. Most recent one was a military theme – they named all the dogs for military bases – what a fantastic idea!

That’s Miramar pictured above – here are all nine names:

Barstow — Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, CA
Beale — Beale Air Force Base, CA
Hood — Fort Hood, TX
Meade — Fort Meade, MD
Miramar — Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA
Oceana — Naval Air Station Oceana, VA
Riley — Fort Riley, KS
Schriever — Schriever Air Force Base, CO
Whidbey — Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA

You can see pictures of all the dogs in the litter here (BTW, the bandanas look way too close to an actual US flag for me, a common problem with lots of well-meaning stuff and a pet peeve of mine, but that doesn’t really detract from an otherwise tremendous idea.):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=143581&id=59272557571

NAS Whidbey Island has already written about their namesake dog Whidbey in Thursday’s base newspaper:

“Future service dog named ‘Whidbey’“

Big points to KSDS for having this wonderful idea.

Police K-9 Koda Memorial Service Held In Utah Yesterday

Al — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:23:52 +0000

A quick follow-up to my last post about Koda, the police K-9 killed by a fleeing robbery suspect on New Year’s Day in Midvale, UT.

Koda’s memorial service was held yesterday – here’s a very sad but moving video of the service that’s definitely worth watching.

“Memorial service held for fallen police dog“

Salt Lake County DA’s Office Writes $10,000 Check For New Police K-9

Al — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:00:02 +0000

I didn’t write anything about this incident when it happened New Year’s Day because it was such a sad story, and I didn’t really think we all needed to hear one more sad story. Still very sad, but now something smart has come from it, and seems to me it’s a model that oughtta be adopted everywhere.

The sad part is that Koda, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois working dog in Midvale, UT, was shot and killed by a suspected robber who was himself killed by police during the same chase.

“Officers mourn K-9 killed on duty“

The smart part is that the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office decided to use $10,000 from their asset forfeiture funds, money seized from criminals for evidence in court cases, to pay for a new dog for Midvale. Their logic was that a lot of that evidence is obtained as a direct result of the work of K-9s like Koda, and it’s only fitting and proper (not to mention a good investment, if you think about it) to fund a new dog.

“Assets seized in county crimes to help fund K9 for Midvale“

Not being an expert by any stretch in this area, I have no idea how common this is, but seems to me it’s not, although it should be. The vast majority of the time I hear about funding for police dogs, it’s usually a story about a department trying to find the money to get a dog in the first place.

Big kudos to the Salt Lake County DA’s office for doing this and setting a great example.

More About Where Things Are Going On This Site

Al — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:00:48 +0000

Haven’t had a lot to say lately, partly because I’ve been thinking about where I want things to go here both in direction and style.

Direction. The key focus here has been service dogs, particularly as they relate to veterans, and will continue to be. But I really like all working dogs – service dogs, police and military K-9s, search and rescue dogs, etc. – and will continue to write about those dogs as well. Which means you likely won’t ever see stuff about surfing dogs (enough with the surfing dog video, please – heartwarming, sure, but I’m totally worn out on it), skateboarding dogs, or any of a number of other feelgood dog stories you see everywhere else – sorry.

Style. Very long discussion, but the general guideline for online presence has evolved to Twitter and Facebook for short things, and blogs for longer discussions, but there’s no hard-and-fast rule about that and things have really changed in the last year. Most of that change is simply due to the pace of information, ease in quickly getting information out, interaction with readers, and what people expect in those areas – blogs aren’t necessarily the best way to handle those needs.

For now, though, the blog will stay as is, but I may do what others have and move to something like Posterous (THE platform I’d recommend now to anyone with no presence who wanted to be up-and-running quickly and easily). I already have a Posterous site (albrittain.posterous.com) but, as you’ll notice, haven’t done anything with it yet.

In that vein, note that I have added a Lifestream page which right now only shows my blog updates and Twitter feed. I want to add Facebook and LinkedIn, but the feeds available there do not provide the information I want to see at this point.

That’s where things stand for now.