Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Daily and Emily Jay one it's an un hot tomato
and if you had a free puppy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Listen up.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We actually have a guest in studio to talk all
about it. Tim McCallum, board member and client of Assistance
Dogs Australia, now Nadian and gentlemen, we have a very
special guest here in the studio thatw me the pleasure
of introducing you to again and welcome Kim.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Good morning Timmy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Look, it's great to have you in here, and it
is International Assistance Dog Week, which you have one. But
let's get your story first. Of his radio people can't
see you, So why do you need an assistance dog?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah? Well, I had a diving accident in nineteen ninety
nine which left me a quadriplegic, so I have no
movement from my chest down, with no hand or finger functions.
I use a power wheelchair, so obviously everyday tasks for
me are impossible. I was no longer able to do
a lot of things for myself and I relied on
a lot of informal and formal supports. But at eighteen
(00:53):
it meant that I had someone hanging around me all
the time. You know, waiting for me to need a
door opened, or when I dropped something. I heard about
assistance dogs Australia and these wonderful dogs that were provided
that could do physical tasks for people with disabilities. I thought,
I need to get one of these, and so yeah,
I applied and was successful, and I've had an assistance
dog in my life now for twenty four years. I've
(01:16):
had three dogs over that time, Buster, Roxy and now Caspa,
who's sitting here underneath the bench. Your listeners out there.
So Caspa's been trained to open doors, turn on lights,
pick up things off the floor, help with the shopping,
and tow the phones. No, he doesn't sound like Scooby Doo.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He just I'm just sitting here thinking, how do I
get my kids to do that? Can tho assistance dogs
train my children?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's unbelievable the amount of tasks that they are taught
to do, and just the independence that that gives someone
like me back, Like I feel like I am am
still the man that I'm meant to be. I haven't
lost all of that physical independence. Yes, there are some
things that I still need help with, you know, like
you can't time my shoelacers or put the pin in
(01:59):
the pin code of podcast. But he does allow me
to be by myself out in the community, go to work,
you know, be a contributing member of the family.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You also here to spread the message that assistant Dogs
need our help.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yes, absolutely, so obviously this year with International Assistance Dogs
Awareness Week, we're really concentrating on it takes a pack,
and it really does take a pack to actually make
these dogs the dogs that they are for people with disabilities,
from our puppy educators, our volunteers out in the community
all the way through our Assistance Dogs Australia organization, and
(02:35):
so this year we really want people to join the pack.
We're going for this pack theme because it takes a
pack to make this relationship work and for my independence
to be enhanced. So we're really after some volunteers. We
need volunteers out in the community to be able to
look after our pups from the age of eight weeks
of eight weeks old through to about twelve months, so
(02:58):
that period in between is really import for the growth
and development of the puppies. But we don't need these
volunteers to train them to elite level where they're ready
to be placed.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
We just need the dogs to just be well behaved,
have the basic commands of you sit and stay and things.
You're really well supported by our puppy educator supervisors out
in the community. Assistance Dogs Australia also provide all of
the food and the vet bills and all of the
costs associated with having one. We just need people who
want to look after a puppy, knowing that it's a
(03:29):
short amount of time and to give this puppy a
good start, to be able to help someone with a
disability and feel really proud that that dog one day
is going to completely change the life of someone who
really needs it. It's a really rewarding job. We've got
great opportunities where you don't even have to have the
puppy for the whole twelve months. You could have the
(03:50):
puppy for three months. You could just be a b
and B where we need to place a puppy for
a weekend while another volunteer goes away. I think so
it's not a full full time commitment. It can be
if you want it to be, and we're looking for
those we love them. Our puppies all come with a
certification where they're allowed to go out in public, and
they're allowed to go to work and a lot of
(04:12):
other places, so you don't feel like you're stuck at
home with this puppy trying to train them. And then
at the end of that time when they're handed over
to go to our national training Center, they spend six
to eight months learning all of the advanced skills, and
then you get to go to the graduation and see
your puppy graduate with a partner's and then they're placed
with someone for their life and doing their job.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's wonderful you've sold it, Tim, that's for sure, well done. Well.
Thank you so much, Bo for coming in today and
best of life with everything pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Thank you so much. Make sure you volunteer. Come and
check out Assistance Dogs dot org dot au. We'd love
to have some volunteers come along. And thanks very much
for having me on. Caspa says thanks to while he's
asleep under the dens.
Daily and Emily Jay one it's an un hot tomato
and if you had a free puppy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Listen up.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We actually have a guest in studio to talk all
about it. Tim McCallum, board member and client of Assistance
Dogs Australia, now Nadian and gentlemen, we have a very
special guest here in the studio thatw me the pleasure
of introducing you to again and welcome Kim.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Good morning Timmy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Look, it's great to have you in here, and it
is International Assistance Dog Week, which you have one. But
let's get your story first. Of his radio people can't
see you, So why do you need an assistance dog?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah? Well, I had a diving accident in nineteen ninety
nine which left me a quadriplegic, so I have no
movement from my chest down, with no hand or finger functions.
I use a power wheelchair, so obviously everyday tasks for
me are impossible. I was no longer able to do
a lot of things for myself and I relied on
a lot of informal and formal supports. But at eighteen
(00:53):
it meant that I had someone hanging around me all
the time. You know, waiting for me to need a
door opened, or when I dropped something. I heard about
assistance dogs Australia and these wonderful dogs that were provided
that could do physical tasks for people with disabilities. I thought,
I need to get one of these, and so yeah,
I applied and was successful, and I've had an assistance
dog in my life now for twenty four years. I've
(01:16):
had three dogs over that time, Buster, Roxy and now Caspa,
who's sitting here underneath the bench. Your listeners out there.
So Caspa's been trained to open doors, turn on lights,
pick up things off the floor, help with the shopping,
and tow the phones. No, he doesn't sound like Scooby Doo.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He just I'm just sitting here thinking, how do I
get my kids to do that? Can tho assistance dogs
train my children?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's unbelievable the amount of tasks that they are taught
to do, and just the independence that that gives someone
like me back, Like I feel like I am am
still the man that I'm meant to be. I haven't
lost all of that physical independence. Yes, there are some
things that I still need help with, you know, like
you can't time my shoelacers or put the pin in
(01:59):
the pin code of podcast. But he does allow me
to be by myself out in the community, go to work,
you know, be a contributing member of the family.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You also here to spread the message that assistant Dogs
need our help.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yes, absolutely, so obviously this year with International Assistance Dogs
Awareness Week, we're really concentrating on it takes a pack,
and it really does take a pack to actually make
these dogs the dogs that they are for people with disabilities,
from our puppy educators, our volunteers out in the community
all the way through our Assistance Dogs Australia organization, and
(02:35):
so this year we really want people to join the pack.
We're going for this pack theme because it takes a
pack to make this relationship work and for my independence
to be enhanced. So we're really after some volunteers. We
need volunteers out in the community to be able to
look after our pups from the age of eight weeks
of eight weeks old through to about twelve months, so
(02:58):
that period in between is really import for the growth
and development of the puppies. But we don't need these
volunteers to train them to elite level where they're ready
to be placed.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
We just need the dogs to just be well behaved,
have the basic commands of you sit and stay and things.
You're really well supported by our puppy educator supervisors out
in the community. Assistance Dogs Australia also provide all of
the food and the vet bills and all of the
costs associated with having one. We just need people who
want to look after a puppy, knowing that it's a
(03:29):
short amount of time and to give this puppy a
good start, to be able to help someone with a
disability and feel really proud that that dog one day
is going to completely change the life of someone who
really needs it. It's a really rewarding job. We've got
great opportunities where you don't even have to have the
puppy for the whole twelve months. You could have the
(03:50):
puppy for three months. You could just be a b
and B where we need to place a puppy for
a weekend while another volunteer goes away. I think so
it's not a full full time commitment. It can be
if you want it to be, and we're looking for
those we love them. Our puppies all come with a
certification where they're allowed to go out in public, and
they're allowed to go to work and a lot of
(04:12):
other places, so you don't feel like you're stuck at
home with this puppy trying to train them. And then
at the end of that time when they're handed over
to go to our national training Center, they spend six
to eight months learning all of the advanced skills, and
then you get to go to the graduation and see
your puppy graduate with a partner's and then they're placed
with someone for their life and doing their job.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's wonderful you've sold it, Tim, that's for sure, well done. Well.
Thank you so much, Bo for coming in today and
best of life with everything pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Thank you so much. Make sure you volunteer. Come and
check out Assistance Dogs dot org dot au. We'd love
to have some volunteers come along. And thanks very much
for having me on. Caspa says thanks to while he's
asleep under the dens.
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