The story below is from our March/April 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Photo Courtesy of St. Francis Service Dogs
How service dogs are helping humans in their everyday lives.
Saint Francis Service Dogs in Roanoke pairs professionally trained service dogs with children and adults who have a wide range of disabilities to assist them in becoming more independent and self-sufficient in partnership with a service dog.
Service dogs perform many useful tasks such as going for help, turning lights on and off and retrieving items. Partnering with a service dog can increase confidence and feelings of security.
“Service dogs are remarkable in their ability to perform tasks that make life easier for people with disabilities, but they are also holistic healers – helping to ease depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation,” says Cabell Youell, Executive Director of Saint Francis Service Dogs.
One partner’s mom shared, “When our young daughter got an upper GI study, the radiologist was on one side of her and the wall was on the other. This was not okay with her because her dog must be within arm’s length during scary procedures to keep her calm. We put one of the heavy lead aprons on him to shield him from radiation and then asked him to stand on his hind legs, balanced on a chair behind her head, so she could reach back and touch him if she got nervous. He stood there still and patient for almost ten minutes while our daughter underwent the study and she kept her eyes on him the entire time. He is her knight in shining armor.”
All Saint Francis Service Dogs are required to meet certain benchmarks. They must all be unflappable in public, calm under pressure, and happy to work. Once paired, the trainer works with the dog to meet specific needs of the individual partner.
Applicants complete a thorough screening process and training to prepare for life with a service dog. The matching process is based on finding the right dog for each person.
Each year, 10-15 service dogs are placed. Training a service dog takes two years and costs up to $25,000. Saint Francis absorbs the costs of training and relies on donations to fund the program.
Saint Francis also promotes the use and acceptance of service dogs through education and advocacy. They work with educational, health care, counseling and visitation programs, placing facility dogs to assist with therapy and emotional support in difficult situations such as court counseling and rehabilitation.
Volunteers walk dogs, raise puppies, puppy sit or help with service projects. To volunteer or apply to partner with a service dog, see their website.
Formed in 1996, Saint Francis Service Dogs is the largest service dog organization in Virginia and is accredited by Assistance Dogs International.
- Veteran Dogs – Saint Francis places service dogs with veterans who have sacrificed their physical health to serve our country. Service dogs for veterans do all the tasks required of a service dog, as well as offer support for other combat-related issues.
- Prison Pups – Saint Francis partners with Bland Correctional Center, a medium security men’s prison, to teach inmates how to raise and train puppies for Saint Francis.
- Breeders – Saint Francis relies on top notch breeders to fill our need for excellent dogs. Our breeders provide structurally good, physically healthy and temperamentally sound puppies to our program.
- Career Change Dogs – Saint Francis places dogs that do not complete the training program, as pets in loving homes carefully screened by Saint Francis staff and volunteers.
… for the rest of this story and more from our March/April 2019 issue, Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
