Canine Assistants

Imagine this. Your watching TV and your dog comes to alert you that you are about to have a seizure, brings you medicine, helps you lay down, and will even call 911. Impossible? Believe it or not but seizure response dogs do this everyday.
John and I recently attended a fundraiser for an Canine Assistants and was blown away by the ability of many of the dogs and by the volunteers who support them. It was very refreshing to be reminded to not take what you have for granted.
My heart was touched by a small boy and his dog named Leah. This boy was 9 years old and was born with a disease that causes him to have multiple seizures. To see the love and loyalty between the two was very touching. Leah was beaming with excitement and pride and was literally smiling as she was being introduced and bragged on.
One dog costs about $20,000 to train, feed, and take care. These costs are 100% paid for by Canine Assistants and the recipients of the dogs pay nothing. Needless to say, this takes many volunteers and many fundraisers to make this organization successful.
Many of the efforts are mainly about just educating the public on what service dogs do and requesting the store owners are cooperative with trainers.
Feel free to learn more about this organization at http://www.canineassistants.org/.
http://www2.canineassistants.org/2008/07/may-2008-training-camp/
One day I hope to help train these dogs to be a small part of this wonderful organization.

Final Countdown

We are less than 4 weeks away from my due date. Haynes has shown no signs of dropping nor am I having any other signs of labor. Still need to set up nursery and get furniture moved in. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and gifts. We could not have done any of this without you! Stay tuned....