Dewey II 11.11. 18

Paying homage to my adorable sidekick

For three wonderfully, blissful years [5.15.15] I have been paired with a captivating,

spontaneous, and well, sleepy soul. But, he’s my kind of guy! He is my battery pack with the

added bonus of cuddles and kisses.

 

FUN FACT the roman numerals separate multiple named dogs working in different places.

Dewey the Second, II. Doodles, as I often call him, came from the Northeast Region Training

Facility Canine Companions for Independence, in Medford, New York. That’s on Long Island

for those of you, unfamiliar with the US, or from other states. Founded in 1975, the non-profit

known as CCI enhances the lives of people like many of us you’ll find at PEARLS. The very

reason I am devoting this post to him as many of you might want to become puppy raisers or

see if you might qualify for a CCI dog.

 

The highly trained assistance dogs learn over forty commands and are broken down into four

categories, Skilled Companions (families with kids under 18), Facility Dogs (Hospitals and

therapy Centers) Dogs, Service Dogs (Dewey), and Hearing Dogs, for the deaf and hard of

hearing. Each with specialized training over a two to two and a half year period.

Within that 2 to 2 and a half year period the dogs are born and looked after by caretakers until 8

weeks! Then, volunteers, Shoutout to Florence and John Scarinci across the Northeastern

region teach the puppies basic recall, learning key commands, like their names and waiting for

food until they hear “OKAY” until their 18 months and go to college at the facility with

professional trainers, shoutout Leah for 6 more months to learn tasks skills for their forever

friend. For example, Dewey had to learn all my modes of transportation, I drive a scooter, beep

beep.

 

Then we spend two weeks training with the dogs to learn them and the forty commands they

have already obtained for a successful partnership. The most common task Dewey does, is Get, a

retrieval task. It helps me when I can’t reach or don’t want to fall, or simply am out of energy

after a long day.

 

The other families, felt like we were all away at sleep away camp with an unbreakable bond, that

from the inside is so special and on the outside, you cannot quite wrap your head around these

dogs and their talents.

 

For more information visit cci.org