Fall 2012 NewsletterDRAFT.indd - Canine Companions for ...

A Letter from the
Executive Director...
Canine Companions for Independence® has a powerful mission - training
dogs to perform tasks to provide more independence for adults, children
and veterans. But it isn’t only the training of the dogs that makes Canine
Companions one of the top assistance dog organizations in the country.
There are many ‘behind the scenes’ aspects that contribute to our remarkable
organization.
Canine Companions’ breeding program is continually evaluated to provide the best genetic combinations
for temperament, behavior, and trainability for Canine Companions’ future assistance dogs. This requires dedicated
staff members that monitor the breeding program, chart its successes and plan for the future. In addition to Canine
Companions’ staff, we have a group of volunteers that we call our breeder caretakers. They provide a safe and loving
environment both for the breeder dogs and for the newborn puppies that are whelped in their homes. Puppies are then
sent to volunteer puppy raisers at 8 weeks of age and raised in their homes until 14-16 months of age.
The North Central region’s kennel staff interacts with the dogs in our facility for professional training on a
daily basis. They insure that all of the dogs are in good health - cleaning kennels several times per day, feeding the
dogs, exercising the dogs, bathing dogs, taking dogs to the veterinarian as needed, administering medications, keeping
the building clean, etc. They provide invaluable contributions in order to guarantee our success.
Our instructors work with the dogs every day - continually evaluating each dog and teaching them the
commands necessary to become successful assistance dogs. In addition to these training tasks, each instructor works
in other capacities. These capacities include administering the volunteer puppy raising program, performing continual
follow-up communications and visits with the region’s graduate teams, scheduling and conducting interviews for
people applying to receive one of our dogs, teaching the required two-week Team Training classes that matches and
instructs people receiving one of the dogs on their use, etc.
The development department staff is busy generating funding to support all of these endeavors. Not only
does the development staff organize and conduct fundraising events throughout the region, but they also work to
obtain media coverage, manage and coordinate our region-wide volunteer efforts, plan and orchestrate the quarterly
Team Training Graduation ceremonies, provide demonstrations and Canine Companions presentations, create greater
awareness of the assistance dog industry as well as people with disabilities, etc.
Thank you to our donors for providing the funding needed for us to be able to accomplish all of the services
listed above and the ability to provide the dogs free of charge to the recipients. In addition to the ‘behind the scenes’
operations, thank you to our donors for providing the funding to enable Canine Companions to be able to fulfill our
mission and profoundly change people’s lives.
I would encourage you to attend one of our graduation ceremonies - it is a testament of what you are
investing in - people with disabilities becoming more independent. Guaranteed that you will be moved and decide
that this is truly the non-profit mission that you want to support and are proud of the results that your gifts provide!
Judy Myers, North Central Executive Director
2 Canine Companions for Independence
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