March 27, 2009

New Red Cross Therapy Dog Program at Fort Carson, Colorado

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:

Red Cross Therapy Dog at Fort Carson Colorado

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 the preparation or editing of the article.

http://csmng.com/wp-files/mountaineer-weekly-pdfs/mountaineer_2009-03-27.pdf

Well, maybe … Read More

March 24, 2009

Marines Love Service Dogs!

United States Marine Corps General Mike Regner with Canine Companions for Independence puppy Bogie.

What a fantastic picture of a Marine two-star CCI puppy raiser and puppy!

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 raiser (this is puppy number 7 or 8 for her – I always forget which) in the DC area.  … Read More

March 20, 2009

How To Find The Best Service Dogs For Disabled Veterans

I get asked all the time whether a specific service dog organization is good or what service dog organizations I’d recommend, particularly when talking about service dogs for disabled veterans.

It’s a great question because there are so many places out there saying they provide service dogs  for veterans, people really want to help, and potential candidates for assistance dogs want to know where to apply, but it’s confusing. How can you know which ones are the best and which are the ones to avoid (and, make no mistake, there are ones you want to stay away from)?

I’ll give … Read More

March 18, 2009

Wounded Warriors to Climb Mt Rainier

Camp Patriot is an organization whose stated mission is “to take combat injured veterans into the outdoors for life changing adventures”.

Something they’ve done for the last coupla years is a climb up Mount Rainier with a number of wounded warriors and others.  I first heard about it from one of the “others” who made the climb last year – Lt Col Robb Erickson, DO at the 114th Fighter Squadron of the Oregon Air National Guard in Klamath Falls.  Robb is an F-15 instructor pilot, was the fall semester 1991 Cadet Wing Commander at the Air Force Academy, and, most … Read More

March 17, 2009

CCI Facility Dog Zorro – “A Very Special Friend”

A lotta times I think Facility Dogs are the most overlooked assistance dogs that Canine Companions for Independence trains – at least I know that I sure didn’t give them the respect they deserve for a long time, anyway.

You can check out the complete list of things Facility Dogs do on the CCI website, but one of those things is working with kids in an educational setting. There’s a nice story and video from WRCB in Chattanooga today about Zorro, a Facility Dog at Chattanooga Valley Elementary School in Flintstone, GA.

Lotsa great stuff in the story – the … Read More

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