FSD trains dogs in several categories to meet the many needs of our different clients:

Freedom Service Dogs help their clients in so many ways that the rest of us might take for granted, but for those with disabilities these tasks are daunting if not impossible, including but not limited to:

• Retrieve and carry dropped objects

• Push Lifeline or 911 button

• Find and retrieve phone

• Find help

• Retrieve items from refrigerator

• Push handicap buttons

• Turn lights on and off

• Open and close doors

• Enhance balance while walking

• Enhance balance up and down stairs

• Provide brace for transfers

• Assist in pulling wheelchair

• Retrieve adaptive equipment

• Carry items in mouth or service packs

• Specialized tasks such as tug shoes/socks or coat off, pull client upright from a reclining position and more.

Pawsitive Connection is a three-year pilot program FSD launched in March of 2008 in collaboration with Colorado Boy’s Ranch (CBR) YouthConnect. The program, which runs for 8-12 weeks, focuses on character development in troubled and at-risk children and youth through effective use of the human-animal connection.

To foster the human-animal connection, FSD trainers work with area at-risk youth in the daily handling of service dogs-in-training. Due to circumstances beyond their control these youth have faced difficult environments which have made positive character development difficult. Pawsitive Connection utilizes a professionally prepared, supervised and measured process which nurtures and enhances each youth’s positive character traits.

Pawsitive Connection provides the first phase of service dog training in which the dogs are taught basic commands such as sit, stay, go to bed and manners. Typically, six in ten dogs in the program qualify for the more intensive training to become Professional Service Dogs. The rest are adopted into loving families. This makes Pawsitive Connection all the more valuable, since each dog gets socialized through the ongoing interaction with the girls and boys in the program. In addition to training sessions conducted at the spacious FSD campus, the students also visit long-term care facilities and take dogs on ‘outings’ to local businesses to better understand how a service dog helps his/her partner. At the end of the course, the youth and their dogs participate in a graduation ceremony attended by parents, guardians, dog adoptees, and friends. For many participants, this graduation is a time to celebrate a success in a life that has already been full of setbacks.

Many of the children enrolled in Pawsitive Connection feel a special connection with the dogs, all of whom are rescued from shelters, because they feel abandoned themselves. As Rosie, a 12-year-old participant says of the dog she helped train, “Her owner abandoned her, and my mom kind of abandoned me. I learned dogs get abandoned and they have the same feelings as people do.” Richie, a fifth grader who completed the program describes his experience, “She [Fanny, the dog] taught me to like her. Besides, she helped me learn to pay attention at school, so now I know how the teacher feels.”

Pawsitive Connection is in the second year of its three year pilot period. Thus far we have touched lives of over 200 at-risk youth in the Denver metro area and hope to serve 500 youth during the course of the pilot. Our goal is to create a sustainable model for affecting character development in at-risk-youth.

Read "Pawsitive Connection" Story

Professional Therapy Dogs entail FSD partnering with University of Denver Institute for Human/Animal Connection and Graduate School of Social Work to pioneer and implement a program utilizing Animal-Assisted Therapy. The program benefits people with mental health illnesses and other conditions, including autism, PTSD, depression and Down syndrome and anxiety disorder by providing companionship and experience through animal-to-human socialization. The benefits of the program include: anxiety reduction in treating patients, improved communication between patient and therapist, and improved behavior of patients outside of the realm of therapy.

The FSD Professional Therapy Dog Program is widely recognized as a leader in Animal-Assisted Therapy. Integrating dogs into the treatment of conditions such as autism, anxiety, depression, and other behavioral problems is an accepted practice in treating children and adults alike and has been shown to be beneficial to both dog and patient.

 

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- Client-Dog Team Program is FSD’s ongoing core program and encompasses 2 types of client-dog teams: Professional Service Team and Certified Companion Team. Freedom Service Dogs is accredited by Assistance Dogs International. We provide ongoing lifetime support and hands-on assistance to all of the client-dog teams.

- Professional Service Team: This team pairs a person living with a disability, such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or a spinal cord injury, with a highly trained dog. Professionally trained service dogs assist their human partners with a variety of tasks including retrieving and carrying objects, opening and closing doors, operating lights, pushing 911 and lifeline buttons, provides brace and balance while walking, and other specialized tasks needed by the client. Service dogs are legally guaranteed full public access and are able to accompany their partners to the grocery store, airport, place of employment or school, restaurants, and all other public places. Service dogs are paired with individuals who are 16 years of age or older and capable of handling a dog in public without assistance from a family member, friend, or caregiver. In cases when an individual is under the age of 16 or unable to handle a dog in public, they are still matched with a canine partner with the stipulation that the parent or guardian must accompany the team when in public.

- Certified Companion Team: This team matches a highly trained dog and a person with a condition such as autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or anxiety disorder. Skilled companion dogs offer many of the same benefits as service dogs; however, companion dogs lack access to public places. Companion dogs are typically paired with individuals who are under the age of 16. In such cases, the client’s parent of guardian is responsible for the care of the dog.

Service and companion dogs perform specialized tasks while also serving as a social bridge for their human partner. Research studies show that people living with mobility impairments experience increased depression, lack of self-esteem, social isolation, and decreased psychological well-being. A two-year study conducted at the University of New York Buffalo confirmed that service dogs do much more for their partners than carrying out trained tasks. This study demonstrated that people living with disabilities who were partnered with a service dog showed significant positive changes psychologically, socially, demographically, and economically. Artie, a Vietnam veteran, explains, “When you go out with your service dog, you are a person with a cool dog. Not a person with a disability.”

The average length of time to train an assistance dog at FSD ranges from 7 to 9 months. The training program for all of FSD assistance dogs, including those placed through Operation Freedom consists of several camps and is structured in the following way:

Camp Freedom - Evaluation/socialization begin: 1-2 months
Camp Paws - Basic training/Canine Good Citizen test: 2-3 months
Camp Knowledge - Advanced training/pass ADI[2] test: 2-3 months
Camp Cause - Pre-placement/customize dog for client: 1-2 months
Camp Service - Placement training/client training: 1-2 weeks

Each camp builds upon the camp before it until the dog has all skills necessary to excel as an assistance dog. Camp Service is when the client and dog truly become a team. Over the course of Camp Service the client comes to FSD and trains with the dog. This serves both the client and dog to ensure the compatibility and bonding of the team. Camp Service is also the time when the trainers teach the client how to handle their dog and how maintain its training.