Kirkwood staff member joins program to help raise canines to help the disabled
–By Tom Garland, Kirkwood News Service
When conversing with Randy Ackman, an assistant professor at Kirkwood Community College’s Animal Health Technology Program, one can’t help but relax.
His disarming smile gives off such patience that it’s not hard to feel some of his mellow personality rubbing off. That may be why he and his wife Michelle have shared their time and energy to the Canine Companions for Independence program.
Canine Companions is the largest assistance dog organization in the world. The non-profit organization works to provide dogs for people with disabilities to help improve their daily lives.
“It’s really a great cause and a great thing to be involved with. Michelle and I have wanted to join for years. It can help people that are deaf, have autism, or people that restricted to a wheelchair, and so on. That’s why we decided to become puppy raisers,” Ackman said.
As volunteer puppy raisers, Ackerman and his spouse adopted an eight week old golden retriever named Essie. They provide the specially bred puppy a safe home, take her to obedience classes, serve up a healthy diet, and provide a wide range of socialization opportunities.
“Basically we’re just trying to expose her to as many things as possible, so that once she gets assigned to someone with disabilities, there will be no surprises. We take her to Wal-mart, all around Kirkwood’s campus, and even out to eat with us sometimes,” Ackman said.
When Essie finishes her time with her Ackman family in February 2010, she will move on to six months of further professional training. Only 35-45 percent of the dogs that make it to this point pass and later “graduate” on to finding a new home.
Jeanine Konoeplski, Director of Marketing for the National Canine Companions for Independence program, explained that it is absolutely essential that by this time the canine is fully trained to help the disabled individual with basic aspects of every day life.
“After the dogs are finished with the puppy raisers, they come back to one of our five regional training centers. Then we have professional instructors that will train them on the commands. They’ll learn how to pull a wheel chair, open doors, and do all the necessary things a disabled person might need,” Konoeplski said.
“Essie wears a vest,” Ackman explained, “When the vest is on, she knows it’s time to work. The real challenge is to keep her from being aggressive towards…well, anything. We can’t have any aggression towards food, people, or other animals what so ever.”
Konopelski reiterated exactly that, “The dogs really have to be what we call ‘bomb proof’. If a French fry drops at a restaurant, we don’t want them to eat it. If a squirrel runs by, we don’t want them to chase it.”
Ackman claims though that the training is much easier than what will follow; giving up his family’s new puppy.
“We’re really attached to her, but this is something me and my wife have wanted to do for a long time now. We were financially responsible for flying her out, feeding her, and all of her vet work, which works out well because we’re both vets. I guess this is just our way to give back,” Ackman said.
Konoeplski explained that what the Ackman’s are feeling isn’t out of the ordinary. “It’s really hard to basically give up something that’s been a member of your family for a year and a half,” Konoeplski said, “However, once they have the graduation ceremony and are able to hand that leash off to the disabled individual the dog will be taking care of, it can be such an awesome emotional experience.”
For more information about becoming a puppy raiser yourself, or becoming involved with Canine Companions for Independence in general, check out their website at http://www.cci.org or call toll free at 1-800-572-BARK(2275).