One more hurdle

e-mail from Joan on August 1, 2003

Well, Henry has successfully completed two semesters (six months) of advanced training at CCI in OH. I got the good news yesterday that he'll start team training on Monday! However, I won't know until Tuesday evening, August 5, whether he successfully "made a match" with one of the recipients. If he does make a match, he'll continue training with his new partner for the remainder of the two weeks, and then go on to graduate on August 16. What will happen this coming Monday and Tuesday is that the ten humans in the class will get a chance to work with all twelve of the dogs in Henry's class that made it this far in their training. This means that the two dogs not selected will most likely be held over for another three months and get another chance to graduate in November. Keep your fingers crossed that Henry's new partner will be waiting to meet him next week!

CCI dogs can enter into four types of placements -- Service Dog Teams, Skilled Companion Dog Teams, Facility Dog Teams, and Hearing Dog Teams (Hearing Dog training only takes place in CA.) All of the teams in this upcoming class will be Skilled Companion Teams. This means that each team will consist of a disabled child (in this class the children are ages 10 through teenagers), a canine companion, and a facilitator (usually a parent). I've been told that two of the recipients have opted for home certification, which means they will not be certified for public access. They will only take part in the first week of training and will not stay for graduation. Henry's trainer does not have him in mind for one of these noncertified placements.

If Henry is one of the dogs selected to graduate, I will also have a small role in the graduation ceremony. At 11:00 AM on the day of graduation, Ted and I will get to spend about 20 minutes of one-on-one time with our boy. At 11:30, we'll attend a luncheon at which we get to sit and visit with Henry's recipient family. (The dogs do not attend the luncheon because their new partners have worked very hard for two weeks to bond with them, and it can be very disheartening should the dog show excessive excitement at seeing the puppy raiser.) Then, after a short rehearsal, the puppy raisers again take the dogs and sit with them in the audience until we are called up to officially "hand over the leashes" to our pups' new life partners. At this time we also usually present the recipient with a small album containing photos and other highlights of the pup's time with us.

Another happening during the ceremony is that a new class of pups in training "matriculates" (is turned in by their puppy raisers). There is also a slide show featuring the incoming pups and a video/slide show featuring the graduating dogs working and interacting with their new partners. Finally, there are the speeches -- by CCI staff and trainers, by one of the new recipients who has been voted by his/her classmates to talk about the combined experience of the class, and by a former graduate who returns to tell about the difference the dog has made in his life. If you can imagine this scene, you'll understand that it simply is not possible to remain dry-eyed at one of these events! Afterwards, a picnic is held for the graduates and all CCI volunteers in attendance.

One final tidbit about Henry. His trainer mentioned that he'll always be special to her, not only as something of her class clown, but because he helped her pass her test as full CCI Instructor. She said she chose Henry as one of three dogs that she's trained who could best demonstrate her training abilities. With her acting as a totally disabled person in a wheel chair, and giving only verbal commands (no corrections or motivation of any sort), Henry performed all of his working commands flawlessly. First they performed the commands for the testers from CCI's national office at the training center. Then they repeated the commands, with the addition of distractions, at a mall. 

I'll let you know what I hear Tuesday night. Here's hoping!

Joan