Have you ever heard the expression, “You get what you give”? When a little birdie here at Families.com passed me a link to an organization called Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW) that saying came to mind. (Not because it related to myself, though I did appreciate the tip, but because of what I discovered about how this organization trains assistance dogs.)
I had a general sense of how this process must work. I knew it was involved, took months, and required a certain type of doggie temperament. The one element I overlooked was the human aspect. It’s not just the dogs who receive training or learn new tricks!
Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, ADW trains dogs to be general assistance dogs, psychiatric service dogs, seizure dogs, or social therapy dogs. Like many such programs, they rely on a variety of people to help, from volunteers to corporate partners.
But one way they serve a unique and dual purpose is through their ADW School Assistance Dog Program. They teach mainstream elementary, middle and high school children, at-risk teenagers, and adults with developmental disabilities to train the dogs. What does this create? A win-win all the way around!
ADW works with schools and vocational institutes in Santa Fe and Albuquerque to implement the ADW Training Curriculum. Classes consist of a maximum of 10 students taught by ADW trainers.
Benefits for ADW: Cost! Maintaining an ADW dog runs about $15,000. (The national average is $20,000 to $25,000.)
Benefits for the human trainees: Learning to train dogs seems like it would be the major skill students would walk away with. Not so. They learn responsibility, compassion, patience, leadership, awareness, respect (for themselves and others), generosity, and sacrifice. Most of all they learn about love. How to give it using encouragement, and how to receive it graciously and gratefully.
Benefits for ADW clients: They spend a shorter time on the waiting list and can receive their dog in 18 months. (The national average is 25% longer than that.)
Benefits for the dogs: they get a top-notch education, lots of love, and the chance to be a companion to someone who needs them and will appreciate them for their entire life.
ADW also doesn’t limit who gets their dogs. Many other organizations give them only to people with disease, stroke, or accident induced disabilities. ADW dogs can go to someone as young as five with autism, or to someone 95 afflicted with Parkinson’s. The people at ADW know how much of an impact dogs can have on people. Their dogs just so happen to be trained to help, alert, and guide in addition to being companions full of unconditional love.
That’s what I mean about getting what you give. They are given so much love and return it in kind. Both ADW and the dogs.
Interesting side notes:
• There are over 55 ADW-like organizations in the United States. Most use traditional trainers, but only a few others, like Assistance Dog Institute and East Coast Assistance Dogs, have educational programs in place like ADW’s.
• Classes are for ages eight and up and are held after school and during the summer. (Now that’s a summer school I wouldn’t mind attending!)
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