CCI

Meet Me At The Corner And Canine Companions For Independence

October 15, 2009 By Colby Leave a Comment

Do any of you have children? If so, or even if you don’t have kids, have you ever heard of the website “MEET MET AT THE CORNER?”

Until recently I had not heard of the website, but lucky for me I received an email regarding a recent featured video about Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). Of course after hearing about a video about CCI I immediately rushed over to check it out. I was thrilled to not only see a great interview with one of CCI’s puppy raisers, but also witnessed perhaps the next Barbara Walters. Maybe I’m going a little too far, but I was definitely intrigued by the young lady (Katelyn) conducting the interview.

Meet Me At The Corner – Virtual Field Trips For Kids

What exactly is the MEET ME AT THE CORNER website all about? Check out this little excerpt from the about us section of the website:

MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide. Through these video pod casts we hope to create a community of children, who learn the art of self-expression and storytelling through video.

What a great concept! I sat back and watched several other videos from MEET ME AT THE CORNER and each time I was absolutely astonished by the professionalism of the kids conducting interviews.

Looking back at my own childhood I never would have built up the nerve to conduct an interview with adults. Great job by all the kids and adults involved with this website!

If you have a chance I definitely recommend you check out Katelyn’s video on Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). Here’s a little CCI snippet from the website:

CANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE

Eight-year old, Katelyn, learns about the importance of service dogs for people with disabilities and meets a pet owner who is raising a puppy for Canine Companions for Independence.

How about you? Are you interested in sharing your corner of the world? If so visit MeetMeAtTheCorner.org for more information.

Filed Under: Service Dog Training Tagged With: CCI, Dog Video, Meet Me At The Corner, Puppy Video

Trixie Koontz A CCI Golden Retriever and Author

October 7, 2009 By Colby 3 Comments

Once again while sorting through my RSS reader I came across a touching article about a man and his dog mentioned on the Bark-N-Blog. A story about how this dog transformed lives. The dog I’m talking about is Trixie Koontz, a Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) service dog who entered early retirement because of elbow surgery. Of course the “man” I was talking about is the famous horror novelist, Dean Koontz.

Here’s a little excerpt from the article:

When Trixie met us, she was a highly educated and refined young lady of three. We were standing with others, but she came right to us, tail swishing, as if she had been shown photographs of us and knew we were to be her new mom and dad.

Here’s the full article and be sure to have some Kleenex in hand: Our Golden Girl.

I’ve had many dogs throughout my life and it’s been over 7 years since we lost our last dog, but I can’t bear the thought of losing either Stetson (almost 3) or Linus (almost 5). Hopefully I will be better prepared in the coming years.

By the way, not only was Trixie a wonderful family dog, but she is also an accomplished author of several books. Take a look at some of the books she wrote:

Bliss to You: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Life

Life is Good!: Lessons in Joyful Living

Christmas Is Good: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Holiday

If you have any touching stories about you and your dog please tell us in the comment section below.

Filed Under: Service Dogs Tagged With: CCI, Trixie Koontz

CCI Puppies In Training

September 17, 2009 By Colby 1 Comment

I follow a lot of blogs in my RSS reader and too no surprise one of my feeds are simple images and descriptions of adorable puppies. Every once in a while they (The Daily Puppy) highlights a puppy in training. In this case we are lucky enough to see Puppies In Training.

I’m sure The Daily Puppy receives tens of thousands (if not more) visitors a day some I’m very happy to see they are highlighting a great cause like Canine Companions for Independence (CCI).

Here’s a little excerpt from the The Daily Puppy:

Canine Companions for Independence is a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly-trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships. Canine Companions assistance dogs are trained in up to 50 commands designed to make everyday life easier for adults and children with physical and developmental disabilities. They open and close doors, retrieve dropped objects, and turn on and off lights. Outside of physical tasks, Canine Companions assistance dogs provide immeasurable emotional support to their human partners.

And of course they included some adorable pictures of their Puppies In Training. Here’s one:

Puppies In Training

For the full article and more images of these adorable CCI puppies visit the Daily Puppy.

If you’re interested in becoming a puppy raiser and raising a CCI puppy then visit their website at http://www.cci.org. If you don’t have the time for puppy raising then they offer many other volunteer activities and also accept donations at their website.

Of course my last two puppies, Stetson and Derby were both puppies in training for Guide Dogs of America. If you’re interested in puppy raising for GDA then visit their website at http://www.guidedogsofamerica.com.

Filed Under: Puppy In Training Tagged With: CCI, GDA, Puppies In Training

What’s Going On At This Puppy Training Blog?

October 17, 2007 By Colby Leave a Comment

This is a Puppy Training blog about our journey as guide dog puppy raisers. Most of the time we like to keep you posted about the latest puppy training tips, dog events, animal shelter and rescue information, puppy videos and pictures, dog toys and product reviews, and many other goings on in the wonderful world of puppies and dogs. However, from time to time we may get a little personal…sorry for that. Here’s a bit of information that’s going on in our life right now.

You may be wondering…”where have you been?” I haven’t written a post on this blog for over two months. I apologize. I ‘ll try to be more diligent with my posts to this site. Lets start off with Halloween which is right around the corner. Our last Guide Dogs of America (GDA) meeting was our annual Halloween meeting. Most of our dogs were dressed in costumes. It’s a good idea to dress your dog up for several reasons…first, your dog will be more tolerant to wearing different kinds of outfits on their head, feet, bodies (good for guide dogs because they will be wearing a jacket or harness for a good part of their lives)…and second, your dogs gets used to being handled by you.

Great Halloween Dog Costumes

Stetson the Bumble Bee

Anyways, here is a picture of Stetson in his bumble bee outfit. The other guide dogs in training should have their pictures posted on our local Orange County GDA website at http://www.ocgda.com. Our group did just recently purchase the domain name ocgda.com, so feel free to check out all of the latest Orange County Guide Dog information at our new ocgda website.

By the way, if you want to see some great dog halloween costumes check out The 6 Best Dog Costumes On The Internet.

Puppy Training Jobs

Who is Canine Companions for Independence. Taken straight from their website: “Canine Companions for Independence is a national non-profit organization that enhances the lives of children and adults with disabilities by providing highly-trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure a quality partnership.” I heard about CCI about 6 months ago and read through most of the pages on their website and browsed several of their monthly newsletters. About two months ago I noticed the job description for Puppy Program Manager listed on their website. They actually had two Puppy Program Manager positions open up one in the Southwest (Oceanside, CA) and one in the Northeast (Farmingdale, NY).

I thought what a great position…managing volunteers who do the same thing I’m currently doing with Stetson. I live about 45 minutes from Oceanside and emailed my resume for that position. I do have management and volunteer experience, however I was not hopeful because I do not have volunteer management experience. Anyways, several weeks passed and I received a call from CCI requesting an interview.

Needless to say I was very excited. I prepped for my interview by reading through the entire CCI website and also going over my interview preparation books. I put on my suit and headed out to Oceanside. I was excited just to see the CCI facility let alone interview for a job. When I arrived they had me fill out an application and I interviewed with two of the program managers. They were very pleasant and easy to talk to. I would say I did okay in my interview, but nothing fantastic. There were several dogs walking around the office. I assume they were Puppies in Training like Stetson. After the interview I got home wrote a couple of Thank you notes and sent them back to CCI.

It’s been about 2 1/2 weeks since my interview and just yesterday I received a letter from CCI (a bad sign). It was a standard rejection letter thanking me for interviewing and giving me the good news (you have some great skills) bad news (however we are looking for someone who better fits the position). Unfortunately, not a happy ending for me this time…oh well, I was just thrilled to have the opportunity to interview for the position. I’m not sure if they are still accepting resumes, but if you are interested you can go straight to their jobs link on the CCI website at http://www.cci.org/national/jobads/jobs_at_cci.html.

Good luck to anyone who applies for a job and good luck to whoever the next Puppy Program Manager is for CCI’s Southwest office.

So that’s what’s going on in the life of a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser. What about you? How’s your life going? Are you raising a puppy or working for one of the wonderful service or guide dog organizations across the country? We’d love to hear what people are up to in the comment section below.