Actually, the video is four minutes and it’ll take you about a minute to read what I have to say.

Every 90 days at the five Canine Companions for Independence regional centers around the US there are combination turn-in / graduation events, where puppies about to enter professional training are taken to the centers by their puppy raisers, and assistance dog teams graduate from two weeks of team training.

Those events are ALWAYS very emotional, even when you’re not turning in a dog, or don’t have one graduating, or don’t have a personal connection with one of the graduates, but even more so when one or more of those things is true.  I’ve been to a number of graduations, but I still don’t think I can capture all the emotions for you.

This video will do that for me, though. Each regional center does a visual presentation for their events, and they are all great, but I don’t know that anybody does it better right now than the Northeast Regional Center in Medford, NY out on Long Island (there’s a little challenge for the other regions…haha).

Here’s their latest one from just a few days ago.  I talk a lot about CCI and what it does, but this  four-minute slideshow will tell you more than all the words I could ever say.  If you want to know what this organization is about, why it’s so good at what it does, and why all of us do what we do…watch this.

Canine Companions for Independence Northeast Region November 2010 Graduation