On May 9, New Leash Hall was filled with dogs. Small conversations and the bustle of people looking to find their seats echoed around the space, but the dogs were quiet. It’s graduation day, they are about to start their lives as service dogs. Scattered across the room, 12 clients patiently wait to be presented with the leash of the service dog they are going to take home.
The North Central Region of Canine Companions, located in New Albany, Ohio, spans from western Pennsylvania to North Dakota. The national nonprofit organization has paired clients with service dogs for 50 years. Clients, from any state in the north central region, attend a two-week training program where they are matched with a service dog.
“Service dogs are genuinely life-changing,” said Kayleen Petrovia, public relations and marketing manager for the North Central Region of Canine Companions. “Our slogan is lead with independence. These expertly trained service dogs empower people to live independently, whether that means so a veteran can sleep through the night for the first time since they’ve come back from combat or that an individual doesn’t have to have a caretaker in their home anymore.”
When the clients arrive for their two week training program, they work with a few different dogs. The trainers look at the specific skills of the dogs to match them best with the clients needs. By the third day, the clients are matched with a service dog. The rest of the two weeks are spent working exclusively with their service dog.
As Petrovia explained, it’s a hands-on learning experience. They work on forming a connection with the dog. They learn the cues and how to communicate best with their match.
“Our trainers are there the whole time to assist them and give them tips,” Petrovia said.
The Friday before the training program started Jen got a call. Someone had dropped out of the program, and the spot was hers if she wanted it. Now, a few weeks later Jen is graduating from the program with a service dog. In her keynote speech at the graduation ceremony, she described the day she got the call as one of the dates she will never forget. Jen’s dog, Halani, retrieves her prosthetic leg each morning.
“The most used skill is retrieve, so that means getting personal items for the individual, like with Jen it’s her prosthetic leg. Or it could even be getting medication from the refrigerator for the individual,” Petrovia said.
The dogs spend six months training prior to the arrival of the clients. In professional training, they learn about 45 cues. Then, once the client arrives the dog’s foundational skills are tailored to them.
“Aside from the skills that they learn, we want dogs with a really great temperament. Our dogs are great in public and they are super adaptable,” Petrovia said.
The service dog’s journey to get to graduation day starts at eight weeks old. The puppies will go to the home of a volunteer. The volunteer, or puppy raiser, will teach them foundational skills, but their main goal is socializing the puppy. They typically spend 18 months with the puppy raisers. Then they start professional training at Canine Companions.
On graduation day, the puppy raisers meet the client getting matched with the dog they raised. They are the ones to pass the leash to the new owner of the dog.
“They pour so much love into it, so it’s tough to say goodbye. But it’s worthwhile to know what this dog is doing,” Petrovia said.
She explained that one long-time puppy raiser always says the dog was never hers, it was always the clients. The bittersweet moment of the handing of the leash brings tears to some of the puppy raisers.
“They are some of the most compassionate people,” Petrovia said. “It’s a testament to their real selflessness and generosity.”
Canine Companions has four main graduations each year which occur across all six regions.
The regions will sometimes hold smaller graduations, or side placements. Petrovia explained that some veterans who are receiving their service dogs request a more private experience due to comfortability in sharing combat and PTSD experiences. These occur separately from the main graduations.
For 50 years now, Canine Companions has been providing clients with service dogs free of charge. During the two-week training program the clients and their families if necessary are able to stay in the dorm facilities, also free of charge.
Petrovia said they try to prevent any barriers that might keep people from getting a service dog.
She spoke of the positive impact the dog can have on someone’s life.
“We have clients who are able to go off to college because they have the comfort of knowing they will never get locked into a room when they drop their keys. Their service dog can get up and open the door for them. It literally and figuratively opens doors for clients, whereas before they may have been limited by their disability, now they are empowered by it and get to live independently which is really just incredible that dogs can do that for their partners,” Petrovia said.
Ella Diehl writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.