Said it before, say it again: first thing you need to look for with a service dog organization is if they are ADI accredited, which you can find here: ADI Accredited Members

And don’t go by the ADI logo on their website, either, because that can be misleading. Like this one on a heavily promoted place’s site:

Note that it says Full Member underneath it – it’s nice that they at least joined, but, sorry, that’s very definitely NOT the same as being an Accredited Member.

Now, being accredited doesn’t tell you that a place is perfect – in fact, there are a coupla places on the ADI accredited list I’m not wild about. But NOT being accredited is a red flag and tells you that the organization must have some reason for not doing it.

To begin with, the accreditation process, while thorough, is not overly difficult or expensive and any top-notch organization should be able to complete it with no problem.

Beyond that, ADI was formed in 1987 to address the need for standards within the industry. That’s still an ongoing problem 23 years later and something service dog places still take flak about all the time – for example, that’s been one of the VA’s biggest concerns for years.  ADI is the closest thing there is to a governing body for assistance dogs, and any place interested in seeing only the best dogs produced and the industry’s reputation strengthened needs to back that up by being accredited.

What it pretty much comes down to is, if an organization isn’t accredited, they either CAN’T or WON’T do it – either way is not good.

But, hey, as always, it’s your decision.  If you decide to talk to a place that’s not accredited, you at least need to ask why they aren’t.

Who knows? Maybe they can give you a reason that’s acceptable to you, but I haven’t heard one yet.

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.

Pfc. James Burns plays with service dog Finn at the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment, Camp Kaneohe, Hawaii.