News
Increased Community Involvement Initiative
June 04, 2007
The combination of being a little over a year old and the recently enhanced web-site have contributed significantly to the increased level of activity regarding inquiries for the services provided by Shadows for Life. There has been a definite shift towards the special needs aspect of the agency, which was the intent all along.
Shadows for Life is currently working with seventeen (17) individuals at various levels of obtaining their puppies or dogs and/or training. “Catherine” is our newest success story, as she is progressing rapidly through her Facility Dog training and will be certified in plenty of time to start the new school year with her “team-mate” and owner, who just happens to be a local elementary school teacher with 25 years experience in the Special Education field. Fran teaches grades K - 4, and is very excited about the progress that she has seen in Catherine and the potential that the new school year will bring for her students with Catherine as her assistant! Catherine is a 3 year old black toy poodle, and she is an absolute doll! The children love her, and we all know how good it is for a well behaved dog to interact with them!
One of our more challenging and interesting “teams’ resides in Florida. Denise has been in contact with Shadows for Life since early April of this year. In that short time, to her credit, she has already researched and obtained a Golden from Indiana, and has the young adult with her right now. “Luke” will ultimately be trained as a Service Dog for Denise, and her mother as well. The real neat thing about Denise is that she is a writer, and she is keeping notes along the way as she experiences the ups and downs of acquiring and training a Service Dog. This will ultimately result in literature and/or media of her choosing that will increase public awareness and hopefully open doors so that we may help others in need.
Along with the (17) Special Needs client teams there has been a tremendous jump in inquiries through the web-site. The wonder of the internet has helped us to expand our service area to virtually anywhere. As an active member of APDT, we are currently developing plans to utilize those resources for out of town professional dog training support. This is in the very early stages of development, but will hopefully be a huge boost to the agency.
Please keep checking back every month or so, as updates are posted to this first page on a regular basis.
Years ahead of business plan!
April 23, 2007
Shadows for Life recently performed an analysis of our current activity level as measured against our original business plan, which was initiated in late 2005. The bottom line indicates that we are clearly years ahead of our projection, from only a year and a half ago! This is primarily due to the increased quantity of individuals that we are working with to enrich their lives through canine assistance. One of the more attractive aspects of Shadows for Life seemingly remains our desire to encourage and initiate client involvement early in the overall training process. Therefore, we have several “teams” already working with each other that may include individuals who have previously been denied or placed on a waiting list for this type of service.
We also strongly encourage, and participate in, helping children with special needs. We currently have young clients with Autism, Tourettes, Cerebral Palsy & Epilepsy to name a few. SHADOWS is also working with teachers in the public school systems to certify their dogs to work with their special needs children.
Acquiring a facility is increasingly the number one need of the agency. At our current location we can handle no more than three dogs at any given time in their “formal/task specific training” with us. Donations to the agency are tax deductible and used 100% in support of our Special Needs activity, and your generosity is greatly appreciated.
Spring Group Obedience Classes
March 19, 2007
Shadows for Life kicked off our second annual Spring Group Obedience Class on Saturday March 10th at Katherine Rose Park in Mansfield. The class was a lot of fun and well attended. These group classes serve as an excellent method of socializing the dogs while working on training and behavior issues. The classes run from 10:00 - 11:00 am each Saturday through the end of May, and are free of charge to anyone who would like to attend.
