Our Mission
The Dog Guide Users of
New Hampshire is a totally
voluntary support group that promotes
the use of Service Dogs for the disabled through peer support,
advocacy, education, and public awareness. The Dog Guide Users
of New Hampshire also embraces all individuals who are interested
in the care, handling, and/or raising of Guide, Hearing and
Service Dogs for independent living
THE
SERVICE DOG EXPERIENCE
- Stories by Our Members, and Archives
CeCe,
and The Prison PUP and NEADS
Partnership
She’s a working gal named CeCe. CeCe, a golden lab mix
is a service dog I received from NEADS. Her daily activities
can be anything but ordinary.
My juvenile rheumatoid arthritis has resulted
in a severe walking disability, inability to reach items on
or near the floor and to get up after a fall.
CeCe makes life much easier for me. She
picks up and retrieves items and helps with my balance when
walking. CeCe nudges accessible door plaques to open doors and
can press elevator buttons. At home she brings the phone when
I fall so I can summon help. At the market, she picks up and
hands me low placed small items such as cat food cans.
CeCe accompanies me everywhere I go from
the market, various meetings I attend, to an occasional restaurant.
Until recently, she accompanied me at work in a retail establishment
as well. She has become a familiar presence at the Legislative
Office Building in Concord where she frequently attends both
House and Senate hearings as I testify on legislation concerning
disability and service dog issues.
But CeCe’s greatest glory may be
the year she was named the official mascot for the Seacoast
Cat Club. She’s the first dog to attend CFA cat shows.
Since her feline playmate, Puck, is a show cat, CeCe accompanies
us through the show hall and watches him in the judges rings.
CeCe is not at all bothered by being the only dog in the hall.
For CeCe it brings its own rewards. She receives a lot of attention
from cat show friends and judges alike. One of her favorite
judges even gave her first—“winner’s ribbon”
which she proudly wore throughout the show hall for the rest
of the day.
When asked about all she does, CeCe replied,
“For a service dog, it’s all in a days work.”Sandra
Teti, Service Dog User 2009.
The Prison PUP and NEADS Partnership
by Barbara
Parsons, Puppy Raisor, 2009
York Correctional Institute for Women
in Niantic, CT started the Prison PUP. Partnership January 20th,
1999. The program is run in conjunction with National Education
for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS). A nonprofit organization,
NEADS has been training dogs to assist
people who are deaf, hearing impaired or physically disabled
since 1976; and since 1998, they've been placing puppies with
inmates in various correctional facilities. The prison program's
goal is to speed up the training process for assistance dogs.
Because the dogs in the prison program live with the inmate
24/7, the inmates are able to focus on the dogs and do more
advanced training than the 16 months it typically takes volunteers
in their homes. It also reduces the time a dog needs to spend
with a professional trainer. But not just any inmate can become
a puppy trainer. York inmates must undergo a rigorous screening
process that demands they have a clean discipline record at
the facility, a high level of maturity and motivation and at
least 18 months left on their sentence ( the maximum time it
takes to train a dog). The puppy handlers also learn about dog
grooming, basic health, training material, complete written
assignments, keep a daily log of the puppy's activities and
attend weekly classes with trainers.
The puppies are usually 8 weeks when they are assigned to an
inmate puppy handler. There is a period of adjustment that consists
of the puppy becoming comfortable in his crate, the new environment
and the challenge of potty training. Once this is mastered,
the basic commands begin: sit, down, shake (puppy gives you
their paw). As the puppy matures the puppy handler begins to
work on harder commands; down stay, carry, bring, take. The
dogs will learn to turn light switches on and off with their
paw and/or nose, pull open a refrigerator door, retrieve a portable
telephone. The dogs must be taught to put all items in their
trainers hand.
Before a dog leaves the inmate handler they should be able to
walk "heel" beside a wheelchair or walker, stay in
a down position for hours, in case their new client is not mobile.
and put items asked for directly in to the hand of their new
owner. Some of the York graduated dogs carry laptops, retrieve
dropped keys, are used for balance as a walker dog instead of
the client using a walker or crutches. All of the puppies entering
the prison program are trained the same. Once they are returned
to NEADS they determine if a dog will be a Social dog, Service
dog, Walker dog, Hearing dog, etc..
Training puppies in prison is a winning situation for the puppy
and its trainer. Unconditional love.
WORKING WITH A GUIDE, HEARING OR SERVICE
DOG
Learn about Guide, Hearing
and Service Dogs through the Video presented by the Disability
Rights Center of New Hampshire and Concord Public TV. For
accessibility for the blind tab to first button or reads button
3 or 4 hit enter wait 15 seconds to begin or link to Google
Video for automatic play.