CCI aims to help those in need

SANDPOINT — Olga took center stage Saturday, head tilted, eyes thoughtful and curious, and short blond hair brushed sleekly back.

Despite the attention, Olga stayed alert and watchful — an impressive feat for a 5-month-old puppy.

And the puppy, the third one raised by Bonnie Wakefield, vice president of the local chapter of Canine Companions for Independence, definitely attracted her share of attention at Saturday’s Mountain West Bank customer appreciation event. In addition to thanking customers, the event also served as a way to raise funds for the national organization and, more specifically, CCI’s Inland Northwest chapter.

Perhaps more valuable than donations, however are puppy raisers. And the reason is simple, the more puppy raisers, the more trained dogs that end up in the hands of people who need them, said Inland Northwest chapter president Lilly Mitsui, who was on hand for the event.

CCI aims to provide more service dogs to a long list of recipients waiting to be matched with their canine companion. With such a big backlog is heavy, Mitsui said the need for trained dogs is immediate.

CCI officials said volunteers and all donations, both large and small, go a long way to supporting the organization’s vision and on-the-ground effort to help those in need.

An ongoing and ever-growing non-profit organization based in Santa Rosa, Calif., Canine Companions for Independence has six regional offices serving chapters around the country, including one in Bonner County.

The nationwide, nonprofit organization, founded in 1975, provides highly-trained dogs to men, women and children with all types of disabilities except blindness.

Canine Companions for Independence breeds, raises and trains golden retrievers, labrador retrievers or a cross of the two to perform all sorts of tasks for their handlers. Not only are these dogs very smart, they also are extraordinarily devoted. When these animals realize whom they are serving, they become protectors and excellent helpers through the actions they are taught to perform, said Mitsui.

After the initial training with their puppy raiser, the dogs then go into the care of an advanced trainer for six to nine months, typically when the puppy is about 18 months old. During advanced training, expert trainers continue the basic skills and teach the enhanced skills for training.

Since it was founded, more than 6,000 highly skilled assistance dogs have been placed — free of charge — to individuals with disabilities ranging from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, stroke victims, spinal cord injuries, autism, hearing disabilities and more — with the exception of blindness, as Guide Dogs for the Blind provides that service. When their training is complete, the dogs are valued at $50,000.

However, there is no cost to the person or family receiving a service animal from CCI.

Since joining the cause some 25 years ago, Mitsui has raised four pups for Canine Companions placement and is now on course with her fifth. While it can be difficult to say goodbye to a puppy you’ve trained, Mitsui said it’s worth it.

“I cry every time I hand one over. You can’t help it,” she added. “But I receive joy back when I attend their graduation and placement celebration, because there you see the outcome of all that patience and watchful care. You get to meet the family or persons receiving their new companion and you witness the joy it brings.”

While friendships can result between those who raised the puppies and their new owners, that is up to recipients, Mitsui said.

In a Canine Companions quarterly publication entitled, The Companion, summer edition 2019, the CEO Paige Mazzoni was quoted at a ground-breaking event of a new facility in New Albani, Ohio, saying, “The [referring to the new Ohio facility] North Central Region is a huge part of what comes next. It’s more than the shiny new building, it’s in the thinking and in the way we try new things and how we do more to fulfill our mission.”

A sponsor of the local chapter, Mountain West Bank is taking donations for Canine Companions for Independence throughout the month of August at the main branch on S. Division and Highway 200.

Information: Canine Companions for Independence, cci.org

Feature correspondent, Dwayne Parsons can be reached for comment and story suggestions through his email at dwaynedailybee@gmail.com.