July 27, 2024 • 27 mins
Kara Milotte, Client Services Manager, and Heather Romanoff, Manager of Raiser Operations for NEADS, World Class Service Dogs, speak passionately about the growing need for service dogs and the array of creative training programs at NEADS to address that need.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome back to What's at Risk.I'm Mike Christian. Based in Princeton,
Massachusetts and established in nineteen seventy six, NEEDS World Class Service Dogs is a
(00:28):
nonprofit organization that offers the widest arrayof service dog programs in the industry,
including service dogs for adults with aphysical disability or hearing loss, service dogs
for veterans, and service dogs forchildren with autism or other developmental disabilities.
These amazing dogs can be trained toperform many important tasks to assist people living
(00:53):
with disabilities. Those tasks might beproviding stability for a person who has difficulty
walking, picking up items for aperson who uses a wheelchair, preventing a
child with autism from wandering away,or alerting a person who has hearing loss
when someone is approaching from behind.Needs assistance dogs are partnered with professionals in
(01:15):
classroom therapy, hospital ministry, andcourthouse settings. Karam a Lot and Heather
Romanoff of NEEDS talk about the expansionof the volunteer Puppy Razor program with the
launch of Team Puppy Razors. Theneed for service dogs is growing, and
NEEDS addresses that growth through these muchneeded training programs. Right Well, Hello,
(01:40):
everyone. We're here with Karam aLot and Heather Romanoff from Needs.
Welcome. Great to have both ofyou joining us. Thank you lovely to
be here, Thank you, thanksfor having us. Maybe a good way
to start is if we could justask each of you for a little little
bit of the background on your whatyou've been up to. Sure, So,
I am a licensed independent clinical socialworker. Prior to joining Needs in
(02:07):
twenty twenty three, I worked inhospital emergency department settings and acute psychiatric inpatient
units. And I am also theproud parent of two Needs furloughed favorites as
we call them. So those arethe dogs that don't quite make it through
(02:29):
our program for whatever reason. AndI always say that my dogs don't really
want to work for a living.So I've been connected with Needs for all
long, long time. Those arethe kind of dogs I've always had with
those kind of dogs, Heather,how about you. That's so funny.
(02:50):
So I actually started out as abusiness and project manager in the for profit
sector, mostly retail, so thisis very different for me and being in
the nonprofit world. It's been reallyenlightening. I think really what drives me
is helping the puppy raisers and thenalso seeing how much everything we do here
(03:15):
can impact a client. You know, it completely changes their life when they
get that dog, and it allstarts with the work that myself and my
team do helping to get those pupsoff to the right start. So it's
really been wonderful. Yeah, that'sgreat. And so we've been talking about
(03:35):
dogs and puppies now and our listenersprobably don't know what the heck we're talking
about. Maybe the first good questionis that you can tell us a little
bit about the Needs organization. SoNeed is a five O four C three
nonprofit organization. We breed, raise, train, and match service dogs with
(03:59):
individ jewels with disabilities. So weour dogs are matched with clients with physical
disabilities, people who are deaf orhard of hearing, children with autism,
and veterans with PTSD, So thoseare we have separate programs and the dogs
(04:24):
are trained a little bit differently.Within those programs, we also train assistance
dogs, so assistance dogs are alittle bit different than service dogs. Assistance
dogs some people refer to them asfacility dogs, So those are the dogs
that you might see in a hospitalsetting or a school, a courthouse.
(04:48):
So those dogs are matched with teachersor therapists, police officers, court officers,
and so the purpose of those dogsis to serve the community at large
as opposed to one specific person witha disability. So you reference service dogs,
(05:10):
and I think many of us knowabout service dogs and what they are,
but maybe maybe get a little moreinto detail what service dogs can do
and how they actually help service theclients that they're working with. There is
some confusion sometimes because we hear theterm service dog, therapy dog, emotional
support, animal assistance dog. Soservice dogs are dogs that are specifically trained
(05:39):
to perform tasks that are going tomitigate someone's disability. So I think that's
a really important point for people tounderstand. So our dogs are trained,
they learn anywhere between fifty and sixtydifferent commands, obedience work work. We
(06:01):
train them for about two years,and these dogs help people in a number
of different ways, and it's alittle bit different depending on the program.
So I can just give you afew examples. So a person a service
dog that goes to a person that'sdeaf or hard of hearing will alert that
(06:26):
person to sounds in the environment thatthey can't hear. So if they're in
their home or even if they're ina work setting. And let's say if
fire alarm goes off, that dogis going to alert the person to that
sound. They're going to run tothe run to the alarm, They're going
to run back to the person.They're going to alert them to the sound,
and then they're going to run.They learn actually an exit route,
(06:49):
and they're going to lead the personout there. Some of their task work.
If there's an oncoming vehicle that's approaching, if someone who's deaf or hard
of hearing is out in the community, the dog is going to alert the
person to that. If someone iscalling the person's name, our dogs learn
specifically the person's name that they're matchedwith, so they are either nudging the
(07:12):
person and looking in the direction ofthe sound, or they're just looking in
the direction of the sound to reallygive that person the clue that, hey,
you know something's going on here thatyou need to pay attention to.
And what we hear from our deafand heart of hearing clients is that having
a partner like that, their anxietylevels really decrease. So that's one example
(07:38):
for folks who are deaf or hardof hearing. People with physical disabilities or
mobility issues. Our service dogs aretrained to retrieve items that they can't reach,
retrieve items that are dropped on theground. They can open up the
refrigerator, they can open up doors, they can turn light switches off and
(07:59):
on on their train, to presselevator buttons or any type of accessible doors.
So really gives people their independence.It's really amazing. You mentioned the
(08:43):
term emotional support dogs, and Iknow it's different, but it does sound
like they would that service dogs wouldprovide emotional support also though in helping them
with these day to day tasks.Right, they do. You know,
our clients just tell us that notonly do these dogs give them their independence
and really give them the confidence tobe out in the community and to feel
(09:05):
safe, these dogs really become aperson's best friend and companion. So it's
really really amazing to see right onyour website. The three pillars of world
class service dogs are purpose, breeding, healthcare, and training. Maybe you
can tell our listeners a little bitabout all those things. It starts with
(09:26):
the selection. Our breeding team makesgreat choices when it comes to selecting the
dogs that are included, and theseare dogs that come from not just our
organization, but other service dog organizations, and these dogs have just generations worth
of service dog work behind them.That makes for a very different dog later
(09:48):
on. These dogs are driven towork, they are friendly with people.
They are just really in tune totheir person and their need unlike any other
dog, and that's really what makesthem purposeful dogs. I would say.
When it comes to the healthcare pillar, you know, we take exceptional measures
(10:13):
to make sure that our dogs arevery healthy. They go to not just
routine care appointments, but we makesure that we scan them. We want
to make sure that they're healthy theirheart, their eyes, their joints,
that they're healthy. All of thisis overseen by our Director of Veterinary Medicine,
doctor Cleveland, and her team makesure that all of our dogs get
(10:35):
everything that they need and more writedown to the diets and the types of
traits they're getting. We want tomake sure that we know what's going on
with the dogs. In terms oftraining. Our third pillar of training,
our trainers go through year's worth oftraining in addition to their experience coming in,
(10:56):
and we put so much work intomaking sure that these dogs are not
just great at that command once,but they're offered additional opportunities for proofing,
and we want to make sure thatthey are kind of bulletproof when they go
out there. We want a strong, confident dog that's secure in what they
(11:18):
do, that can go out andtruly help someone in need. And are
there certain breeds of dogs that makebetter service dogs than other dogs? Well,
there are service dogs out there ofdifferent breeds. I will say that
for us doing this for nearly fiftyyears, we've really kind of gone for
the Labrador Retrievers for a number ofreasons. One, they are very food
(11:41):
motivated, so they're easy to train, you know, a piece of a
treat, and they are ready tolearn. But also they're just friendly and
personable, not just for the clientsbut for the people that they encounter,
and that makes things easier for thec when they're explaining what this dog does.
(12:03):
Why is the need for service dogsincreasing so much? You know,
I saw that question. I thoughtit was such a great question, and
I don't know that I have agreat answer for you. I don't think
it's so much that the demand isincreasing. I think the demand has always
been there. I think it's morethat there's more awareness about service dogs in
(12:26):
the public, and I think peopleare just becoming more comfortable with them and
familiar with them and seeing them morekind of out and about. I think
that's because also of the advent ofemotional support dogs that's probably grown faster than
service dogs in the last few years. It has, you know, we
(12:46):
have we really struggle with that issue. We feel like emotional support dogs therapy
dogs are kind of everywhere now andit's a huge problem for us. We
we you know, a lot offolks will pass off their pet dogs as
service dogs. So we actually havea bill on the floor of you know,
(13:11):
the mess legislature trying to impose penaltieson folks that are passing off their
their pets as service dogs. Youcan buy a service dog best anywhere online
now and it's really a shame.And we have more and more clients that
are reporting to us that they're encounteringfake service dogs in the community. We've
(13:33):
had our dogs be injured by thesedogs. A lot of times. They're
aggressive, they're not trained, soit's a huge problem for us. And
and I think the real difference betweenemotion and emotional support animal, which I
kind of feel like all of ourpets are emotional support animals. Emotional support
animals are not performing task work that'sgoing to mitigate someone's disability, and that
(13:58):
is the difference between a service dogand an emotional support animal or a therapy
dog. So service dogs have fullpublic access rights under the Americans with Disabilities
Acts. That means that they cango anywhere that the public can go,
with very few exceptions. Yeah,that's an interesting point. I hadn't really
(14:18):
been aware of that, although Ido see the proliferation of the emotional support
dogs, there's no question about that. How does one apply to get a
service dog? So all of ourapplications are on our website needs dot org.
People apply online and then they gothrough a pretty extensive interview process.
(14:41):
There's a series of interviews. Theywill interview with training staff, with client
services staff. We perform home visitsto really make sure that the environment is
suitable for our dogs, and thenwe make the decision as a team as
whether or not we feel as thoughwe can serve the person and meet their
(15:03):
needs. If they're accepted into ourprogram, they will fundraise for us.
So the total cost for needs tobreed, raise, train, and match
a service dog is about fifty thousanddollars. So for civilian clients, they
(15:26):
are required to raise eight thousand dollarsof that and that's a donation to us
as a nonprofit where all we runon all donations. We do have a
program for military veterans. It's calledour Service Dog for Veteran program. So
if for folks that are military veterans, if they apply to our program,
(15:46):
and that can be for mobility issues, physical disabilities, deaf, hard of
hearing, and we have a specificprogram for veterans with PTSD. Veterans are
not required to fundraise and the dogis provided at no cost to them as
part of our mission at needs andis there state and federal funding available for
(16:08):
service dogs. We do have staffthat will apply for grants. We did
have a pretty significant Service Dog forVeterans grant that was taken away last year,
so we lost about five hundred thousanddollars in funding, which was quite
(16:29):
a blow to our program. We'reagain working with our state senators to try
to get that funding back, sohopefully that's going to come to pass within
the next couple of years. Right, So you're reliant on a lot on
outside donations, foundations, grants,those types of things. But from the
film topic world as opposed to funding, yes, I don't think most people.
(16:55):
It certainly came as a surprise tome that it's fifty thousand dollars too.
It's it's really if you saw theprogram, and it's really we always
encourage people to come to campus andyou know, see our facilities. It
is quite extraordinary. But our dogstrained for two years, you know,
so quite a bit of time andfunds go into each dog that we rout
(17:18):
out. One last question on thetraining, is there like follow up training
(17:41):
and follow up work with needs forany for somebody that has a service dog.
So every client that we match withthe service dog, they come to
our campus. We have what wecall a facility based training model. So
a client, when they're matched witha dog, they will come to our
campus in Princeton and they will liveon our campus for about two weeks in
(18:06):
our client house. It's a beautifulfacility that's fully accessible. You know,
everyone has a private room, bathroom, and they undergo extensive training for two
weeks here with our trainers. It'spretty intensive and when they leave, they
pass a certification test that certifies themwith Assistance Dogs International as a certified working
(18:30):
service Dog team. And then ourtrainers. We have wonderful, wonderful trainers
here and they support our clients forthe life of the dog. So we
have a formal annual check in withour clients, but our trainers are constantly
going into the community having our clientscome back to campus if they need additional
(18:51):
support. So we don't just matchpeople and say hey, good luck.
You know, we really believe inthe success of our teams and you know,
we want them to successful in thecommunity, so there's a lot of
support that goes on. Now you'reexpanding the volunteer Puppy Razor program and with
the launch of the Team Puppy Razors, how does that work. Yes,
so we're really excited to be ableto roll this out and really have volunteering
(19:18):
with us more accessible to people whowant to join. Now, our Team
Puppy Raisers, they do very similarwork to our regular puppy raisers, our
full time puppy raisers, but withthe added bonus of raising a puppy alongside
with someone else in their life.So it could be someone who's a family
member or a friend, a coworker, or even a neighbor. Together,
(19:44):
they'll help to raise a puppy,which is just as much fun as
it sounds, but they'll be ableto share responsibilities, so doing things like
going to class so the puppy canlearn obedience, or are doing on things
like field trips where they get earlysocialization in different places right around town.
I know you're actively recruiting volunteers,particularly in eastern and central Massachusetts. Is
(20:08):
it hard to find volunteers? Youknow, it is hard to find volunteers,
and I think there's a couple ofreasons for it. I will say
that a lot of people just don'trealize that they can volunteer to do these
things. Is kind of one ofthose dream things like, oh, I
get to have a puppy in myhouse and not have to worry about dealing
(20:32):
with the medical cost or the foodcost because we cover that. So they
get to take part in all ofthe fun stuff you do, get to
join and raise this puppy to doamazing work and change someone's life later.
So I think a lot of itis education and realizing that you can take
part in this, and then there'sother things that could be going on.
(20:57):
I think a lot of people arejust busy and I don't think to look
up something like this, but I'mhappy to kind of help share this opportunity
for people that want to get involved. A lot of people want to try
and give back, and this mightbe a way for people that love dogs,
of course give back and still havea good time at the same time.
(21:17):
Is it hard for them to giveup the dog though? That would
be the thing for me. Ifollow in love with a little puppy and
then I got to give it upsomebody else house at work. That is
our biggest question when we're out andabout and telling people about this program.
And it can be tough for peopleto give up the puppy, usually their
first one, because we do havea lot of people who come back and
(21:37):
repeat their raising experience. But onething that the Puppy racers say and we
stand by is, you know,it could be tough to give up this
puppy, but there's always going tobe another puppy. And the reason why
there's another puppies because there's always someoneelse in need. And having that idea
that this puppy is going to changesomeone's life can really help to open them
(22:02):
up again. But in general,we do want our puppy raisers to fall
in love with the puppies, andwe want the puppies to love them.
It's part of what makes them suchkind, wonderful, loving dogs as service
dogs. And what is a prisonpupp program? I saw that on your
website. Yeah, it's a reallyunique program where our pups are placed for
(22:23):
advanced training. So that's where theylearn their task training. You know,
initially they're just learning early socialization andobedience with puppy Raisers, and then they
go into prison and they start tolearn those tasks that they're going to need
to fulfill their jobs as fully workingservice dogs. It's really great because the
incarcerated, incarcerated individuals in prison areable to get back to society and learn
(22:51):
this really unique skill of training aservice dog that they may decide to use
later, but it's meaningful for themto take part in this and it's really
just a win win for everyone.So those puppies go just go to the
prison and spend time there till they'retrained. Is that how it works.
(23:11):
Monday through Friday, so they addabout a year old. They'll go into
prison and they'll be there Monday throughFriday, and then on the weekends they
go out with our weekend puppy raisers. They'll take them out and do some
advanced socialization. So, well,how can our listeners find out more about
this if they're interested in becoming avolunteer? Super easy, So go to
(23:34):
our website that is needs dot organd it's any ads dot org. And
right on that main page you'll seethe option to become a puppy raiser.
And right on that puppy raser pagethere's different options to choose from. We
have so many options right now.Our team's one is the most recent,
(23:56):
but they can choose the one thatis best for them. Apply and within
twenty four to forty eight hours they'llhear from myself or a member of my
team and we'll start there onboarding.Well, Karen Heather, I've learned an
awful lot about service Talks today thatI didn't know before. Thank you so
much, and I really appreciate youcoming on the show. Oh, thank
(24:18):
you for inviting us, Thank youfor having us. Oh for sure,
(25:26):
a big thank you to our producer, Ken Carberry of Chart Productions. What's
on your mind? Send us yourthoughts, comments and questions to What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. That'sone word, what's at risk at gmail
(25:48):
dot com to count, expect tothe bott
Welcome back to What's at Risk.I'm Mike Christian. Based in Princeton,
Massachusetts and established in nineteen seventy six, NEEDS World Class Service Dogs is a
(00:28):
nonprofit organization that offers the widest arrayof service dog programs in the industry,
including service dogs for adults with aphysical disability or hearing loss, service dogs
for veterans, and service dogs forchildren with autism or other developmental disabilities.
These amazing dogs can be trained toperform many important tasks to assist people living
(00:53):
with disabilities. Those tasks might beproviding stability for a person who has difficulty
walking, picking up items for aperson who uses a wheelchair, preventing a
child with autism from wandering away,or alerting a person who has hearing loss
when someone is approaching from behind.Needs assistance dogs are partnered with professionals in
(01:15):
classroom therapy, hospital ministry, andcourthouse settings. Karam a Lot and Heather
Romanoff of NEEDS talk about the expansionof the volunteer Puppy Razor program with the
launch of Team Puppy Razors. Theneed for service dogs is growing, and
NEEDS addresses that growth through these muchneeded training programs. Right Well, Hello,
(01:40):
everyone. We're here with Karam aLot and Heather Romanoff from Needs.
Welcome. Great to have both ofyou joining us. Thank you lovely to
be here, Thank you, thanksfor having us. Maybe a good way
to start is if we could justask each of you for a little little
bit of the background on your whatyou've been up to. Sure, So,
I am a licensed independent clinical socialworker. Prior to joining Needs in
(02:07):
twenty twenty three, I worked inhospital emergency department settings and acute psychiatric inpatient
units. And I am also theproud parent of two Needs furloughed favorites as
we call them. So those arethe dogs that don't quite make it through
(02:29):
our program for whatever reason. AndI always say that my dogs don't really
want to work for a living.So I've been connected with Needs for all
long, long time. Those arethe kind of dogs I've always had with
those kind of dogs, Heather,how about you. That's so funny.
(02:50):
So I actually started out as abusiness and project manager in the for profit
sector, mostly retail, so thisis very different for me and being in
the nonprofit world. It's been reallyenlightening. I think really what drives me
is helping the puppy raisers and thenalso seeing how much everything we do here
(03:15):
can impact a client. You know, it completely changes their life when they
get that dog, and it allstarts with the work that myself and my
team do helping to get those pupsoff to the right start. So it's
really been wonderful. Yeah, that'sgreat. And so we've been talking about
(03:35):
dogs and puppies now and our listenersprobably don't know what the heck we're talking
about. Maybe the first good questionis that you can tell us a little
bit about the Needs organization. SoNeed is a five O four C three
nonprofit organization. We breed, raise, train, and match service dogs with
(03:59):
individ jewels with disabilities. So weour dogs are matched with clients with physical
disabilities, people who are deaf orhard of hearing, children with autism,
and veterans with PTSD, So thoseare we have separate programs and the dogs
(04:24):
are trained a little bit differently.Within those programs, we also train assistance
dogs, so assistance dogs are alittle bit different than service dogs. Assistance
dogs some people refer to them asfacility dogs, So those are the dogs
that you might see in a hospitalsetting or a school, a courthouse.
(04:48):
So those dogs are matched with teachersor therapists, police officers, court officers,
and so the purpose of those dogsis to serve the community at large
as opposed to one specific person witha disability. So you reference service dogs,
(05:10):
and I think many of us knowabout service dogs and what they are,
but maybe maybe get a little moreinto detail what service dogs can do
and how they actually help service theclients that they're working with. There is
some confusion sometimes because we hear theterm service dog, therapy dog, emotional
support, animal assistance dog. Soservice dogs are dogs that are specifically trained
(05:39):
to perform tasks that are going tomitigate someone's disability. So I think that's
a really important point for people tounderstand. So our dogs are trained,
they learn anywhere between fifty and sixtydifferent commands, obedience work work. We
(06:01):
train them for about two years,and these dogs help people in a number
of different ways, and it's alittle bit different depending on the program.
So I can just give you afew examples. So a person a service
dog that goes to a person that'sdeaf or hard of hearing will alert that
(06:26):
person to sounds in the environment thatthey can't hear. So if they're in
their home or even if they're ina work setting. And let's say if
fire alarm goes off, that dogis going to alert the person to that
sound. They're going to run tothe run to the alarm, They're going
to run back to the person.They're going to alert them to the sound,
and then they're going to run.They learn actually an exit route,
(06:49):
and they're going to lead the personout there. Some of their task work.
If there's an oncoming vehicle that's approaching, if someone who's deaf or hard
of hearing is out in the community, the dog is going to alert the
person to that. If someone iscalling the person's name, our dogs learn
specifically the person's name that they're matchedwith, so they are either nudging the
(07:12):
person and looking in the direction ofthe sound, or they're just looking in
the direction of the sound to reallygive that person the clue that, hey,
you know something's going on here thatyou need to pay attention to.
And what we hear from our deafand heart of hearing clients is that having
a partner like that, their anxietylevels really decrease. So that's one example
(07:38):
for folks who are deaf or hardof hearing. People with physical disabilities or
mobility issues. Our service dogs aretrained to retrieve items that they can't reach,
retrieve items that are dropped on theground. They can open up the
refrigerator, they can open up doors, they can turn light switches off and
(07:59):
on on their train, to presselevator buttons or any type of accessible doors.
So really gives people their independence.It's really amazing. You mentioned the
(08:43):
term emotional support dogs, and Iknow it's different, but it does sound
like they would that service dogs wouldprovide emotional support also though in helping them
with these day to day tasks.Right, they do. You know,
our clients just tell us that notonly do these dogs give them their independence
and really give them the confidence tobe out in the community and to feel
(09:05):
safe, these dogs really become aperson's best friend and companion. So it's
really really amazing to see right onyour website. The three pillars of world
class service dogs are purpose, breeding, healthcare, and training. Maybe you
can tell our listeners a little bitabout all those things. It starts with
(09:26):
the selection. Our breeding team makesgreat choices when it comes to selecting the
dogs that are included, and theseare dogs that come from not just our
organization, but other service dog organizations, and these dogs have just generations worth
of service dog work behind them.That makes for a very different dog later
(09:48):
on. These dogs are driven towork, they are friendly with people.
They are just really in tune totheir person and their need unlike any other
dog, and that's really what makesthem purposeful dogs. I would say.
When it comes to the healthcare pillar, you know, we take exceptional measures
(10:13):
to make sure that our dogs arevery healthy. They go to not just
routine care appointments, but we makesure that we scan them. We want
to make sure that they're healthy theirheart, their eyes, their joints,
that they're healthy. All of thisis overseen by our Director of Veterinary Medicine,
doctor Cleveland, and her team makesure that all of our dogs get
(10:35):
everything that they need and more writedown to the diets and the types of
traits they're getting. We want tomake sure that we know what's going on
with the dogs. In terms oftraining. Our third pillar of training,
our trainers go through year's worth oftraining in addition to their experience coming in,
(10:56):
and we put so much work intomaking sure that these dogs are not
just great at that command once,but they're offered additional opportunities for proofing,
and we want to make sure thatthey are kind of bulletproof when they go
out there. We want a strong, confident dog that's secure in what they
(11:18):
do, that can go out andtruly help someone in need. And are
there certain breeds of dogs that makebetter service dogs than other dogs? Well,
there are service dogs out there ofdifferent breeds. I will say that
for us doing this for nearly fiftyyears, we've really kind of gone for
the Labrador Retrievers for a number ofreasons. One, they are very food
(11:41):
motivated, so they're easy to train, you know, a piece of a
treat, and they are ready tolearn. But also they're just friendly and
personable, not just for the clientsbut for the people that they encounter,
and that makes things easier for thec when they're explaining what this dog does.
(12:03):
Why is the need for service dogsincreasing so much? You know,
I saw that question. I thoughtit was such a great question, and
I don't know that I have agreat answer for you. I don't think
it's so much that the demand isincreasing. I think the demand has always
been there. I think it's morethat there's more awareness about service dogs in
(12:26):
the public, and I think peopleare just becoming more comfortable with them and
familiar with them and seeing them morekind of out and about. I think
that's because also of the advent ofemotional support dogs that's probably grown faster than
service dogs in the last few years. It has, you know, we
(12:46):
have we really struggle with that issue. We feel like emotional support dogs therapy
dogs are kind of everywhere now andit's a huge problem for us. We
we you know, a lot offolks will pass off their pet dogs as
service dogs. So we actually havea bill on the floor of you know,
(13:11):
the mess legislature trying to impose penaltieson folks that are passing off their
their pets as service dogs. Youcan buy a service dog best anywhere online
now and it's really a shame.And we have more and more clients that
are reporting to us that they're encounteringfake service dogs in the community. We've
(13:33):
had our dogs be injured by thesedogs. A lot of times. They're
aggressive, they're not trained, soit's a huge problem for us. And
and I think the real difference betweenemotion and emotional support animal, which I
kind of feel like all of ourpets are emotional support animals. Emotional support
animals are not performing task work that'sgoing to mitigate someone's disability, and that
(13:58):
is the difference between a service dogand an emotional support animal or a therapy
dog. So service dogs have fullpublic access rights under the Americans with Disabilities
Acts. That means that they cango anywhere that the public can go,
with very few exceptions. Yeah,that's an interesting point. I hadn't really
(14:18):
been aware of that, although Ido see the proliferation of the emotional support
dogs, there's no question about that. How does one apply to get a
service dog? So all of ourapplications are on our website needs dot org.
People apply online and then they gothrough a pretty extensive interview process.
(14:41):
There's a series of interviews. Theywill interview with training staff, with client
services staff. We perform home visitsto really make sure that the environment is
suitable for our dogs, and thenwe make the decision as a team as
whether or not we feel as thoughwe can serve the person and meet their
(15:03):
needs. If they're accepted into ourprogram, they will fundraise for us.
So the total cost for needs tobreed, raise, train, and match
a service dog is about fifty thousanddollars. So for civilian clients, they
(15:26):
are required to raise eight thousand dollarsof that and that's a donation to us
as a nonprofit where all we runon all donations. We do have a
program for military veterans. It's calledour Service Dog for Veteran program. So
if for folks that are military veterans, if they apply to our program,
(15:46):
and that can be for mobility issues, physical disabilities, deaf, hard of
hearing, and we have a specificprogram for veterans with PTSD. Veterans are
not required to fundraise and the dogis provided at no cost to them as
part of our mission at needs andis there state and federal funding available for
(16:08):
service dogs. We do have staffthat will apply for grants. We did
have a pretty significant Service Dog forVeterans grant that was taken away last year,
so we lost about five hundred thousanddollars in funding, which was quite
(16:29):
a blow to our program. We'reagain working with our state senators to try
to get that funding back, sohopefully that's going to come to pass within
the next couple of years. Right, So you're reliant on a lot on
outside donations, foundations, grants,those types of things. But from the
film topic world as opposed to funding, yes, I don't think most people.
(16:55):
It certainly came as a surprise tome that it's fifty thousand dollars too.
It's it's really if you saw theprogram, and it's really we always
encourage people to come to campus andyou know, see our facilities. It
is quite extraordinary. But our dogstrained for two years, you know,
so quite a bit of time andfunds go into each dog that we rout
(17:18):
out. One last question on thetraining, is there like follow up training
(17:41):
and follow up work with needs forany for somebody that has a service dog.
So every client that we match withthe service dog, they come to
our campus. We have what wecall a facility based training model. So
a client, when they're matched witha dog, they will come to our
campus in Princeton and they will liveon our campus for about two weeks in
(18:06):
our client house. It's a beautifulfacility that's fully accessible. You know,
everyone has a private room, bathroom, and they undergo extensive training for two
weeks here with our trainers. It'spretty intensive and when they leave, they
pass a certification test that certifies themwith Assistance Dogs International as a certified working
(18:30):
service Dog team. And then ourtrainers. We have wonderful, wonderful trainers
here and they support our clients forthe life of the dog. So we
have a formal annual check in withour clients, but our trainers are constantly
going into the community having our clientscome back to campus if they need additional
(18:51):
support. So we don't just matchpeople and say hey, good luck.
You know, we really believe inthe success of our teams and you know,
we want them to successful in thecommunity, so there's a lot of
support that goes on. Now you'reexpanding the volunteer Puppy Razor program and with
the launch of the Team Puppy Razors, how does that work. Yes,
so we're really excited to be ableto roll this out and really have volunteering
(19:18):
with us more accessible to people whowant to join. Now, our Team
Puppy Raisers, they do very similarwork to our regular puppy raisers, our
full time puppy raisers, but withthe added bonus of raising a puppy alongside
with someone else in their life.So it could be someone who's a family
member or a friend, a coworker, or even a neighbor. Together,
(19:44):
they'll help to raise a puppy,which is just as much fun as
it sounds, but they'll be ableto share responsibilities, so doing things like
going to class so the puppy canlearn obedience, or are doing on things
like field trips where they get earlysocialization in different places right around town.
I know you're actively recruiting volunteers,particularly in eastern and central Massachusetts. Is
(20:08):
it hard to find volunteers? Youknow, it is hard to find volunteers,
and I think there's a couple ofreasons for it. I will say
that a lot of people just don'trealize that they can volunteer to do these
things. Is kind of one ofthose dream things like, oh, I
get to have a puppy in myhouse and not have to worry about dealing
(20:32):
with the medical cost or the foodcost because we cover that. So they
get to take part in all ofthe fun stuff you do, get to
join and raise this puppy to doamazing work and change someone's life later.
So I think a lot of itis education and realizing that you can take
part in this, and then there'sother things that could be going on.
(20:57):
I think a lot of people arejust busy and I don't think to look
up something like this, but I'mhappy to kind of help share this opportunity
for people that want to get involved. A lot of people want to try
and give back, and this mightbe a way for people that love dogs,
of course give back and still havea good time at the same time.
(21:17):
Is it hard for them to giveup the dog though? That would
be the thing for me. Ifollow in love with a little puppy and
then I got to give it upsomebody else house at work. That is
our biggest question when we're out andabout and telling people about this program.
And it can be tough for peopleto give up the puppy, usually their
first one, because we do havea lot of people who come back and
(21:37):
repeat their raising experience. But onething that the Puppy racers say and we
stand by is, you know,it could be tough to give up this
puppy, but there's always going tobe another puppy. And the reason why
there's another puppies because there's always someoneelse in need. And having that idea
that this puppy is going to changesomeone's life can really help to open them
(22:02):
up again. But in general,we do want our puppy raisers to fall
in love with the puppies, andwe want the puppies to love them.
It's part of what makes them suchkind, wonderful, loving dogs as service
dogs. And what is a prisonpupp program? I saw that on your
website. Yeah, it's a reallyunique program where our pups are placed for
(22:23):
advanced training. So that's where theylearn their task training. You know,
initially they're just learning early socialization andobedience with puppy Raisers, and then they
go into prison and they start tolearn those tasks that they're going to need
to fulfill their jobs as fully workingservice dogs. It's really great because the
incarcerated, incarcerated individuals in prison areable to get back to society and learn
(22:51):
this really unique skill of training aservice dog that they may decide to use
later, but it's meaningful for themto take part in this and it's really
just a win win for everyone.So those puppies go just go to the
prison and spend time there till they'retrained. Is that how it works.
(23:11):
Monday through Friday, so they addabout a year old. They'll go into
prison and they'll be there Monday throughFriday, and then on the weekends they
go out with our weekend puppy raisers. They'll take them out and do some
advanced socialization. So, well,how can our listeners find out more about
this if they're interested in becoming avolunteer? Super easy, So go to
(23:34):
our website that is needs dot organd it's any ads dot org. And
right on that main page you'll seethe option to become a puppy raiser.
And right on that puppy raser pagethere's different options to choose from. We
have so many options right now.Our team's one is the most recent,
(23:56):
but they can choose the one thatis best for them. Apply and within
twenty four to forty eight hours they'llhear from myself or a member of my
team and we'll start there onboarding.Well, Karen Heather, I've learned an
awful lot about service Talks today thatI didn't know before. Thank you so
much, and I really appreciate youcoming on the show. Oh, thank
(24:18):
you for inviting us, Thank youfor having us. Oh for sure,
(25:26):
a big thank you to our producer, Ken Carberry of Chart Productions. What's
on your mind? Send us yourthoughts, comments and questions to What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. That'sone word, what's at risk at gmail
(25:48):
dot com to count, expect tothe bott
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.