A Tour of Canine Companions Hosted by Kristen Dambrowski
Our meeting for June 6, 2024 was a field trip to Canine Companions on Dutton Avenue. Kristen Dambrowski, Northwest Regional Executive Director, was our tour guide! Kristen has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Administration University from the University of San Francisco. She joined Canine Companions in July 2022. Her past experience includes 21 years with the YMCA of San Francisco. We also received a live demonstration of what Canine Companions dogs can do from Lauren, a trainer, and the remarkable Moby, a canine trainee! The trip also allowed Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary to deliver a donation to Canine Companions in person.
Canine Companions was founded in Santa Rosa almost 50 years ago. Its founder recognized that dogs can support people with disabilities in a variety of ways. It is now a national organization with 6 campuses. It provides service dogs to adults, children, and veterans with disabilities, and facility dogs to professionals working in healthcare, criminal justice and educational settings. It has placed over 5,000 dogs since 1975 and currently has 4,300 volunteers. All of its dogs are scientifically bred and trained for their jobs. The dogs are labs and golden retrievers. The training life cycle starts with birth at a Canine Companions facility. From 8 weeks to 18 months the dogs are raised by volunteers in the volunteers’ homes and taught basic manners. The dogs then “graduate” to professional training at a Canine Companions facility for 4-6 months, where they typically learn 45 tasks/commands. After another 3 months the dogs are assigned to their new clients. There is no charge to the clients for these dogs!
Well trained companion dogs can assist their owners in variety of ways. They can assist people with PTSD by waking them or pulling bed covers away during nightmares, creating space for them in crowds, waking them up, and providing them with deep pressure. Hearing dogs can save lives by alerting people to sounds. Lauren and Moby demonstrated a variety of techniques used to retrieve fallen items, including the 3 nodes of delivering items to people in wheelchairs; stepping up to hand them to their clients, “visiting” people by laying their chins on the wheelchair’s arm, and bringing their front paws up to the person’s lap. Lauren also noted a variety of additional skills taught in professional training, including tugging doors and drawers open, pushing them closed, turning lights on and off, and nudging people to interrupt their behavior. Moby is an extremely motivated dog!
We also toured the new, state-of-the-art veterinary clinic at the facility in the final stages of construction. Once completed, Canine Companions will have the capacity to provide health care services onsite to all of its dogs! Kristen also told us about the prison program at Coffee Creek in Oregon, San Quentin, and other incarceration facilities. Puppies are raised by prisoners until they begin their professional training. The program has a positive impact on puppies and prisoners alike!
Thank you, Kristen, Lauren, and Moby for the great and highly informative tour. This is such an amazing program! Keep up the great work!
