Dog Bless You Helps Veterans

Dog Bless You, a Facebook Campaign has selected Canines for Veterans as one of the recipients for their Spirit of ’76 Facebook Campaign.  From Memorial Day (May 28^th) to Independence Day (July 4^th), Dog Bless You, a non-profit community created by explore.org founder and Annenberg Foundation Director and Vice President, Charlie Annenberg, will celebrate dogs and soldiers in America and bring service and companion dogs to war veterans through a challenge grant that incorporates Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

For every 1,000 new subscribers on the Dog Bless You Facebook, Pinterest, or Tumblr pages, explore.org will donate the costs of one service or companion dog to a war veteran.  Through a grant made possible by the Annenberg Foundation, explore.org will donate up to 76 dogs with the help of non-profit organizations throughout the US. The Spirit of ’76 is a celebration of 1776, the birth year of our country’s independence. The campaign offers a chance for people to come together and raise awareness surrounding the healing role dogs can play in the lives of those affected by war. The Facebook page, Tumblr page, and Pinterest page will feature photos, videos and discussions aimed at educating and inspiring.

“This is a great example how foundations are incorporating social media into the opportunities for grantees” says Rick Hairston, President/CEO of Canines for Service.  Dog Bless You is a creative way to feature the service Canines for Veterans is providing to our warriors while creating a needed funding source to continue to provide this medical option to our Veterans.”

Canines for Veterans, a program of Canines for Service, is a triple win; providing quality trained service dogs to our veterans at no cost, teaching military prisoners new skills that they can use when released from prison and rescuing dogs from local shelters giving them a second chance at a new life.   The program is innovative and provides a professionally trained service dog within about one year from the dog entering training.  

So, what makes CFV different?    For one thing, 95% of the dogs in the program are from rescue  and all are temperament and health tested to ensure the right fit for the service work the dog will be trained to do.  Next, training standards have been developed and approved by the U.S, Department of Labor as an Apprenticeship program which includes 3600 hours of training for the handler and an average of 2,500 hours for each dog; the first of it's kind for a prison service dog training program.  The skills to assist a Veteran with PTSD have been developed by and with individuals that have PTSD and are compliant to federal law (Americans With Disability Act).  After completing an application and review for a service dog, each client receives individualized instruction when they learn to work with their service dog.    Because we work with each recipient individually, they get the specific training needed for the skills needed, can ask as many questions as they need to understand and we can reduce the training time for the team to an average of 5 days.  That saves the client time, money and most of all anxiety of being in a unfamiliar location. And, we don't stop there.  Once the client has completed training and goes home with their new service dog, CFV is there for the team for follow-up and we provide the liability insurance coverage for the service dog by maintaining the ownership.   

Canines for Service, previously known as Carolina Canines for Service, empowers people with disabilities to achieve greater independence through the gift of quality trained service dogs. Through the volunteer efforts of foster families and military prisoners, the organization trains certified service dogs and then partners the canines with eligible recipients.  

Canines for Service is asking the community and supporters to like Dog Bless You on Facebook from now to July 4^th and share this with your friends to help veterans receive service dogs.

Canines for Service Continues to Serve Our Veterans

With the mission complete in Iraq, our brave troops are returning home after serving and sacrificing so much.  Now more than ever, our service members need us. Many will continue in their military careers and many will embark on a career in the civilian world.  Many will be dealing with varying degrees of physical impairment, traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. 

Serving our Veterans is a priority to Canines for Service in the Canines for Veterans (CFV) program.  Providing a quality trained and Americans with Disability Act (ADA) compliant service dog to assist those with physical impairment, traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the foundation of the CFV program.  By the ADA, a service dog must do work or perform tasks to benefit an individual with a disability; three key words, tasks, individual and disability.  A service dog is trained to serve one individual with specific skills to help that individual mitigate their disability.  From stabilizing a person when they are walking to retrieval of items, each service dog has been trained considering the needs and variations of the disabilities trained for.  

A service dog is not a companion animal (pet), therapy animal, social or emotional support animal; these are entirely different, do not meet the intent of the ADA and have no legal rights.  Another words a companion, therapy, social or emotional animal does not by law have access to public places such as restaurants, banks, grocery stores, shopping malls, airports/airplanes[1], etc.  Those that perpetrate their pet as a service dog are in violation of the law.

There is a lot of  information about people or groups providing “service” dogs for our Veterans.  The caution to our service members is if you are truly getting a service dog that you need or are you being provided a pet disguised as something it is not. 

Veterans and family members need to do their homework.  Ask questions. 

• ·         How is the service dog trained? 
• ·         How long is the training for the service dog?
• ·         What is the method of the training?
• ·         Are the dogs trained positively or with negative methods? 
• ·         How many hours of training does each dog have? 
• ·         Has the service dog had routine veterinary care and is it spayed or neutered?
• ·         Are the veterinary records provided?
• ·         What skills does the dog do?
• ·         Is there a fee for the service dog?
• ·         How is the training provided to the person receiving the dog? 
• ·         Is the person required to train the dog themselves?  
• ·         Is there follow-up by the service dog provider? 
• ·         What happens if there is an issue after the dog is received?   

Canines for Veterans stands ready to serve our Veterans as we have done since this program started in January 2008.   A Veteran receiving a service dog from our program can be assured they are receiving a dog trained in skills to mitigate their disability.  They will have individualized training with their service dog and have ongoing follow-up consultation and/or training.  The service dog CFV provides is ADA compliant and meets all intent of the law.  Our staff is available to answer questions before application, during the application process and after the receipt of the service dog.  

Are you a Veteran or do you know a Veteran who could benefit from a service dog? Contact us today to learn how CFV can help a Veteran regain their independence in 2012.

What are you waiting for? 

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[1] Aircraft carriers act

Access, It's the Law

In a recent news story, a service dog was denied access to a local store in Castle Hayne. The sad truth is, this happens every day in our community and throughout this country irrespective of local and federal laws. There are several businesses that Carolina Canines is aware of that regularly deny access to service dogs and service dogs in training. Measures are and have been taken to educate the business owner and there staff. Sometimes those measures include legal action.

While Carolina Canines provides people with disabilities quality trained service dogs, we are also here to educate the community and business owners. Here are a few simple differences businesses owners should be aware of:

A companion dog is just that; a companion. It is a persons’ pet. And, while we love our pets, most have not been appropriately socialized and should not be allowed to accompany the owner everywhere they go.

A therapy dog is a person’s pet that has been trained to volunteer with the person in the community. These animals provide affection and comfort to many people in different environments. THIS DOG HAS NO LEGAL ACCESS and can only gain entrance to a facility by invitation. There are many organizations that train therapy dogs, but the standards of training are all different.

A service dog is one that is trained to do specific tasks for a person with a disability. The Codes of Federal Regulation for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 define a service animal as "any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair [sic], or fetching dropped items." There are some exceptions, including churches, private clubs, federal courts, military bases, and Native American tribal council offices. And, federal laws protect people with disabilities partnered with service animals from discrimination in housing, Fair Housing Amendments Act, and on aircraft, Air Carrier Access Act.

Businesses must allow service animals into their establishment. But, it is often a difficult task determining the validity of the animal entering your business. The sad reality of the ADA is identification is not mandated, many disabilities are not visible and a proprietor cannot ask if the person is disabled. The business owner can however ask what tasks the service animal provides, such as “How does the animal serve you?” And, for both business owners and people with service animals, if the animal is disruptive such as barking, growling, defecating or urinating in the business, the establishment has every right to ask the person to remove the service animal.

The reality is countless individuals are perpetrating crimes by falsely accessing local businesses with their “pocket” pets or other animals. This is a violation of federal law, the ADA, and North Carolina state statues; both violations punishable by law. Worst yet, it makes it more and more difficult for people with legitimate service animals to have the access they indeed need to live independent lives.