They open and close doors. They turn lights on and off. They retrieve dropped items and get the phone in an emergency. And they alleviate depression. Summit Assistance Dogs. Service dogs trained two years before going into service for wheel-chair bound folks who need assistance. That is the story told by Alice Collingwood to Kingston North Kitsap Rotarians at their Mar 3 meeting.
Training takes two years, initially eight weeks with a volunteer puppy raiser, then 18-24 months of advanced training in the hands of prisoners at the Monroe Reformatory. The final two weeks of training is with the “client,” for whom the dog will work and with whom the dog will bond. Collingwood said $20-$30k worth of training is involved. There is no charge, and a two to five year wait to get an assistance dog, mostly a Labrador retriever, sometimes a Golden retriever.
Since the year 2000, the mission of Summit Assistance Dogs is to create life-changing partnerships between people and dogs.