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Summer Events

August 23, 2007

The Summer has been very eventful for Shadows for Life.  We now have three Special Needs Teams which have been certified for public access, as per the testing format suggested by Assistance Dogs International (ADI).  Brenda Wyss/Amber, Fran Zucker/Catherine and Cyndee & Emma Hopkins/Jake have all worked diligently to satisfy the requirements of the testing, and they all passed with flying colors!

Group classes have continued through the Summer on Saturday mornings at Rose Park here in Mansfield, and have been a lot of fun!  The focus of the agency has somewhat shifted from family pet training to Special Needs training and rescue activities.  In finally becoming a member of Petfinder, our traffic of inquiries for rescue dogs has increased ten-fold.  With that in mind, we are currently actively pursuing opportunities for a facility in which we can house working dogs in training, as well as rescue dogs.  The intent is for all rescue dogs to be tested as working dogs, and to place the dogs with the proper temperament into special needs training.  All others will be trained as pets and placed with families respectfully.  We optimistically hope to be in a facility of our own by the end of the year, and weekly meetings are currently being held along those lines.

One of our biggest stories of the year is in regard to Special Needs Team in training , Denise Lanier/Luke.  Denise currently resides in Hollywood, Florida, and found Shadows for Life through our web-site.  Our initial contact was in April of this year, and Denise obtained Luke (Golden) from a breeder in Indiana.  Just this week, Denise and Luke came to Mansfield for a couple of days of hands-on training with us, and Luke is now here for a few weeks to sharpen his obedience and to introduce the retrieve.  Denise is also an author and spokesperson for MS, and has been on the Oprah television show to heighten MS awareness.  We will be flying back to Florida in a few weeks with Luke, and then pick up the training for a few days there.  Denise has done an outstanding job with Luke to this point, and they are progressing right on schedule for Assistance Dog certification.