The team at Custom Canines, one of Madison South Rotary's grant recipients, brought beautiful service dogs to our meeting and discussed how they provide vital services to people. The Madison-based non-profit trains and provides service dogs for those with a variety of disabilities, including PTSD, autism, physical limitations and blindness. There are 250 people on the waiting list, with 46 dogs currently in training. The organization places anywhere from 18-25 dogs per year. These amazing animals can turn lights on and off, open doors and retrieve items. They even know when to wake up someone suffering a PTSD nightmare. The breeds are typically golden retrievers, labs, poodles and standard poodles, but can be small dogs, too, like a Chihuahua. The hope is that each dog will live at least 12 years. It takes a big investment to train these dogs, as the cost is approximately $25,000 per dog.