Apr 8, 2009
Last time I talked about how you can’t know if a dog is really a service dog, and ended up promising I’d tell you how you can have a huge impact on the overall quality of service dog placements, and why it’s absolutely critical that you do. (I’ll forewarn you that this is a longer post than I like to write, but it’s that important.)
Lemme get right to the heart of things and tell you first why it’s so critical. Some people, including me, fear that there’s a … Read More
Apr 6, 2009
A nice follow-up story to the passing of Endal a few weeks ago (“UK’s Most Famous Service Dog Is Gone” ) – EJ (Endal Junior) has made his first official public appearance:
“Endal’s Successor Makes Dogs Dinner Out of First Official Engagement”
Note that he’s only 10 months old and, as his human, Gulf War veteran Allen Parton, said, “…is very much a puppy in training and not a fully qualified service dog…”, but is still doing very well already.
Junior is not actually a son of Endal – … Read More
Apr 5, 2009
I’ve been wanting to say something about this subject for some time, but I’ve been wrestling with just what to say because I want to add something helpful and not just more fuel for all the arguments about what is a controversial subject. So, I think the best thing to do is just tell you my approach and how I got there.
Probably no topic generates more heat in the assistance dog world than just what is and what isn’t a real service dog. Once you get past the subject … Read More
Mar 27, 2009
Nice article in today’s Fort Carson Mountaineer newspaper about the newly established Red Cross therapy dog program at Evans Army Community Hospital. Of course, I’m a little biased because that’s our wonderful dog, Zephan, in the picture:
There’s no direct link to the article – you have to get the complete newspaper pdf and then look on page 21. One caveat: “service dog” wasn’t used accurately in the article – they should’ve just been described as therapy dogs. Nothing sinister there, just an honest mistake somewhere along the way in … Read More
Mar 24, 2009
Check out this fantastic picture of a Marine two-star CCI puppy raiser and puppy (click on the picture for the giant version):
OK, I’m lying about the puppy raiser part, but the picture is very real.
That’s MGen(sel) Mike Regner, the Legislative Assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, visiting with Bogie, a Canine Companions for Independence assistance dog in training, at a recent function in DC. You can read Gen Regner’s full biography here:
http://www.marines.mil/units/hqmc/cmclegalasst/Pages/home.aspx
Bogie is being raised by Cyndi Perry, long-time CCI volunteer and puppy … Read More
Mar 9, 2009
That’s how many blogs Technorati said they’d indexed since 2002 in their “State of the Blogosphere 2008″ report late last year – 133,000,000.
Who knows how many more there have been since then, but, hey, what’s one more?
I’ve written for others and always had it in the back of my head to write my own blog, but what finally got me to do it after all these years was really something very simple – my domain name finally became available not long ago.
I definitely have some specific subjects … Read More
I'm very active with Canine Companions for Independence as a volunteer, to include being a past member of the Veterans Task Force and puppy raiser. Retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant with my last assignments at the Air Force Academy as the Fourth Group Sergeant Major and Dean of Faculty Superintendent. Actively looking for a paid position performing these functions or other similar meaningful work. More...
