Transcript: Where do service dogs come from?

CBC'sInformation MorningCape Breton produced this segmentas part of its Ready And Able series on April 8, 2021. Here's a transcript of that conversation.

Steve Sutherland:

We continue our series, Ready and Able. Ready and Able, over the next few weeks, is our look at accessibility and inclusion in this province. Nova Scotia's new Accessibility Act aims to make the whole province, rural and urban, inclusive and barrier- free by 2030. Over the next number of weeks, we're going to look at what's been done and what needs to be done to make sure that everybody can participate fully no matter what your ability. Today, a look at service dogs with Holly Conners, who's been helping to produce this series. Hi.

Holly Conners:

Hi, Steve. So, today we're going to take a look at the role that service dogs can play in helping somebody with a disability to lead a more independent life. And we're going to start with Barry Abbott in Halifax.

Barry Abbott:

Atta Boy.

Holly Conners:

I reached him on the phone just as he was about to take his guide dog, Kim, for a walk.

Barry Abbott:

Good boy. We'll go out in one minute.

Holly Conners:

Barry has had guide dogs for 35 years.

Steve Sutherland:

And where does one go to get a guide dog?

Holly Conners:

Well, Barry got Kim from a school called the Seeing Eye in New Jersey. You probably have heard that term, but there are other schools, several in Canada. The closest Canadian schools to Nova Scotia are in Quebec and Ontario. And Barry has also used one of the Ontario schools in the past. He says over the years he's had four dogs that have worked out for him and two that did not. And he says that wasn't related to the school he used. He was very impressed by both. It just happens, sometimes, not all dogs are cut out for the work.

Barry Abbott:

Basically, when you have a working guide dog, you know you're getting the cream of the crop. They're extremely well-behaved. Of course, every dog is different. You know, they have their own personality and their own cute little quirks, you know. And I can't say enough about Kim's behavior, I can drop a slice of toast on the floor and know that he won't touch it. I mean, he's very well trained.

Steve Sutherland:

Interesting in here, too, that he had a couple that didn't work out. So what goes into training a dog like Kim who can ignore a piece of fallen toast?

Holly Conners:

Well, to begin, the more established schools will have their own puppy breeding programs, one in Canada that does not is the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. It's just launched its own guide dog program in recent years. And, so far, it's been sourcing its puppies from a breeder in Australia. But so when the puppies are about eight to 12 weeks old, they're placed in a foster home and there, they're taught the basics of housebreaking and obedience and also to be socialized and conditioned to different environments. And this is an important first step, because just like with humans, the early stage of a dog's life is a very formative time. And dogs that haven't been socialized well as pups don't do as well in their training later.

Steve Sutherland:

So what are the breeds that make good service dogs?

Holly Conners:

Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers make great service dogs. They're highly intelligent, extremely friendly. They love to work and I'm told they're highly food motivated. German Shepherds are also really smart and easy to train, and they're a good choice when you need a larger, stronger dog. Standard Poodles apparently are also highly intelligent and friendly, and they're a good option for people with allergies.

Steve Sutherland:

Interesting. OK, so the dog at a certain point goes to a foster home. What happens after its time at the foster home?

Holly Conners:

Well, after about a year and a half, and it's a year and a half old, the dogs come into the school for two to three months of formal training with a professional instructor. And that trainer uses positive reinforcement methods. And in the case of a guide dog for vision, the dog would learn things, such as, you know, how to walk in a straight line, how to avoid obstacles, find curbs and stairs, get in and out of elevators. The thing that's most important in training a guide dog is something called intelligent disobedience. And here's CNIB Guide Dogs President Diane Bergeron to explain.

Diane Bergeron:

The dog has to analyze the safety of the situation, and they are trained to refuse the command of the handler if it puts the safety of the handler at risk. For example, if I'm walking down the street with my dog and there's a construction barrier and I don't know that there's construction there, the dog will stop. When I tell the dog forward, the dog will refuse my command. Then I tell the dog, find your way and the dog will determine the direction to go to get you around that unsafe area. And the person has to trust that the dog is taking them the right way.

Steve Sutherland:

That's interesting. What did you call that?

Holly Conners:

Intelligent disobedience.

Steve Sutherland:

It sounds like there's some training involved for the handler too.

Holly Conners:

Beth Crandall is CEO with Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. And she says the first step when they receive an application is to do a home visit and make sure that the person is a good candidate to get a dog. You know, they look at the person's lifestyle, their ability to handle and manage a dog. Then there's a lot of thought put into making the right match between dog and handler.

Beth Crandall:

We want to make sure that if you're a tall person, you need a big dog, you know, sending you home with one of our smaller labs isn't necessarily going to be a good fit for you. So we look at things like size, we look at temperament, do you have a really active lifestyle or do you work in an office all day? Do you need a dog that's going to settle really quickly and easily then not so much worrying about going on a 10K hike every weekend? Those kinds of things. So finding that match is really an important piece.

Holly Conners:

And once that match is made, the clients come into the school themselves for two to three weeks of training with the dog. And then, when the dog and handler go back home, the schools do provide aftercare support and checking on them from time to time and help with any issues that might come up.

Steve Sutherland:

What about the cost?

Holly Conners:

Well, the schools I've mentioned are run as charities, so there's either no cost at all or just a nominal amount even in the States. Barry Abbott said he paid fifty dollars U.S. to the Seeing Eye in New Jersey and when he went down for his training, his flight and room and board were all paid for. Now, beyond the cost of, you know, training the dog, which is expensive, some schools also pay for ongoing costs of caring for the dogs. CNIB covers the cost of vet bills for the life of their dogs and the cost of food for the working life of the dogs. And that's with no government funding. So fundraising is important. And you may have seen the ads on TV recently with Ben Mulroney asking for donations to help a CNIB guide dog expand its program.

Steve Sutherland:

All right. So no cost to the client, but how much does it cost those schools to, I guess not just train the dog, but maintain the dog, as you say, some of them do?

Holly Conners:

Well, Diane Bergeron with CNIB says they estimate the cost of one of their guide dogs through to the end of its life at about 50,000 dollars. Barry Abbott says the last figure he remembers hearing from Seeing Eye was 60,000 U.S. per dog.

Steve Sutherland:

So we've been talking about dogs for people who have vision impairment. So what is the other range of work that service dogs can provide?

Holly Conners:

Well, the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides is a big school. It graduates between 160 and 200 dogs a year. And along with its canine vision program, it also trains seizure response dogs. And they can provide comfort and help to people with epilepsy following a seizure. They have diabetic alert dogs which can detect, by smell, when a person is having a hypoglycemic glow and then, they're trained to, you know, fetch a kit with juice or snack or insulin. They have hearing dogs, they can alert their handlers to sounds like a ringing phone, a smoke detector or just someone calling their name.

Steve Sutherland:

What about people who have issues with mobility?

Holly Conners:

Lions Foundation has a program for that, too. It trains dogs to do things like, you know, pick socks out of a dryer or use special handles to open doors or, you know, refrigerators. They can pick things up as small as a nickel. And there's another program, Steve, that's really been growing in recent years, and that's their autism dog program.

Beth Crandall:

This is a really emotional program for families. The dogs are trained to do a couple of things. Primarily, it's providing a level of depressure. So when a child is feeling anxious, the dog is trained to do what's called either hug or visit. In a visit, they just come and they put their head on the child's knee applying pressure and then the child can pet the dog and hopefully that helps to calm them down. And if they're really anxious, the dog can do what's called a hug, and that's when the dog lies across the child's lap, so providing more depressure. And then, the other thing they do is many children with autism are flight risks that in a situation of deep stress, their instinct is to just run, which can be very dangerous. So in that case, the child is tethered to the dog through a waistband, but the adult or the caregiver is actually the handler of the dog. And when the child starts to flee, the handler gives the command to halt and the dog just drops and basically becomes an anchor for that child. And it also lets the child know that it's OK, I'm, I can stay here, it's safe and my dog is with me.

Steve Sutherland:

Very interesting. So do you get a sense as you're looking into this, Holly, what sort of demand there is for service dogs?

Holly Conners:

Well, Lions Foundation says demand has been growing over time as more people learn about service dogs and all the different ways they can help. And another thing that's happened over the past year is that that pandemic has added to wait lists. Here's Dianne Bergeron of CNIB Guide Dogs.

Diane Bergeron:

Since the border closed, the demand for applications into our program at CNIB guide dogs has exploded. We've had so many people because there is a lot of people in Canada who are guide dog users that typically get their dogs from the United States. And because of the border closures, they can't get over to get trained. And so they've all been sort of flocking to the Canadian programs and we've seen a significant increase in demand from right across the country.

Holly Conners:

Bergeron says CNIB had 60 people on its waitlist, prior to the pandemic, and now, it has more than 300. Other schools are not reporting such a dramatic increase in demand, but they have had to slow down their output. You know, the pandemic means they can't bring as many people into the schools to train so that fewer dogs are being matched with clients.

Steve Sutherland:

I guess that makes sense. So, as far as getting a service dog, do you have to go through one of these accredited schools to get a service dog.

Holly Conners:

No, and I learned that when I ran into Len Harris at the mall, he was with his service dog and training Karma. Now, Len was injured in an accident a few years ago, and it's left him with chronic pain. He got Karma as a pup a year ago. She's a German Shepherd and he originally just wanted her as a companion dog. But he took a puppy training course and the instructor suggested he look into training Karma as a service dog. Now, there were waiting lists for the schools and he was under the impression it might be costly and he already had Karma and didn't like the idea of sending her away for training, so he decided to do it himself.

Steve Sutherland:

So what's involved with training your own service dog?

Holly Conners:

Well, he looked on the Nova Scotia government website and he found that in Nova Scotia, dogs and handlers that haven't gone through one of these accredited schools have to pass an assessment to be certified. And that assessment has forty exercises they have to display to show that the dog is safe to be in public and demonstrates the right behavior and that costs about 190 dollars. But if you're on income support, it may be waived. So, for the past 10 months, Len and Karma have been training daily and he sought some advice online from a woman who trains police dogs here in Nova Scotia. And one of the key things that they're working on is training Karma to let Len know when he starts limping. So Len knows not to overdo it when he's out and about and make his pain worse.

Len Harris:

It's basically exaggerating the limp when you can and then teaching her to go down. Now, Karma is really good. I can just put my hand out and tell her, go down and she'll go down.

Holly Conners:

And then did she get rewarded with a treat?

Len Harris:

Yes, she gets rewarded. So every time you hear me say yes, that means she did something right and that's her reward time. Eye contact is big. "Karma, look, Yes, Karma, speak, speak." Yes, she's very smart.

Holly Conners:

What's been the biggest challenge?

Len Harris:

Probably me, probably me in dealing with my pain and making sure I get it, give her enough time to train. But that's been great for me, too, because she's been forcing me to get up and do more, whereas before, I was less active. So, that's been just that little part of it has been great.

Holly Conners:

Well, how would you describe your relationship with her, how has it developed?

Len Harris:

With Karma? Oh, she's my buddy. Yeah, she's my buddy. She goes everywhere with me.

Holly Conners:

So that was Len Harris of Sydney at the Open Hearth Park with his dog Karma.

Steve Sutherland:

Right on. So if somebody might be listening and is considering a service dog thinking it might be good for them or maybe for somebody they know, what is the first step towards that?

Holly Conners:

Well, for information, you can look online. The Canadian Association of Guide and Assistant Dog School has a website and it lists all the accredited schools in Canada and has links to each school site. There's also the International Guide Dog Federation, which shows you all of the schools in the world. And for information on your certification here in Nova Scotia, you can Google Nova Scotia Service Dog Act.

Steve Sutherland:

Good. Holly, thank you.

Holly Conners:

You're welcome.

Steve Sutherland:

Holly Conners with the latest in our series Ready and Able, examining accessibility and inclusion in Nova Scotia.