The Nielsen family — left to right, Lorena, Thomas and Chase, 10 — has taken in Hester the puppy to train her as an assistance dog. Known as man’s best friend, dogs often become part of their owners’ family. For the Nielsen family of Metuchen, raising a puppy means preparing her to become an integral part of someone else’s life.
“We’re in love with her already,” Thomas Nielsen said of the dog they’ve had for six weeks. “She’s just a really, really great dog.”
Hester, a 12-week-old yellow lab crossed with golden retriever, is no ordinary puppy.
Bred specifically to become a trained assistance dog like her mother, Hester will spend about 16 months with the Nielsens. As volunteer puppy raisers for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) — a nonprofit based in Santa Rosa, California — the Nielsens have taken on the task of getting Hester ready to serve.
“I got involved in this because my very best friend in the world got hit by a subway train about 12 years ago,” Nielsen said.
The friend, whose jacket got caught on the train, was dragged about 25 feet and became a quadriplegic, Nielsen said. Thanks to CCI, a canine companion helps him with many of the things he is no longer able to do, such as opening doors, retrieving items from the refrigerator and picking up items, Nielsen said.
“These dogs are just fantastic with people with disabilities,” he said. “There are many different kinds of abilities these dogs have.”
Depending on each dog’s particular strengths, CCI places them in one of four capacities — as a service dog for adults with disabilities; as a skilled companion for children and adults with emotional, developmental or physical disabilities; as a hearing dog; or as a facility dog, helping professionals by advancing healing and providing therapy for patients, residents or students, according to John Bentzinger, a spokesman for CCI.
The dogs are born at the homes of volunteer breeder caretakers, who provide permanent homes for breeder dogs and care for newborn pups until they are 8 weeks old. From there, families like the Nielsens come in. Raising Hester involves socializing her and teaching her a bevy of commands as she grows. For example, Nielsen said, she is expected to learn 10 commands between the ages of 2 and 6 months. The work gets harder as she grows older.
“We’re teaching her a command now where she needs to fetch something and drop it in your lap,” Nielsen said.
Another command involves walking at heel without becoming distracted. Other commands teach Hester to eat and relieve herself on demand, Nielsen added. In addition, she must learn to go into her kennel when commanded to do so.
“She loves her kennel,” Nielsen said, explaining that all CCI dogs must be kenneled throughout their lives. “It’s just because, when people are disabled, they can’t control where [the dogs] are. They need that command.”
Canine graduates of CCI’s training program go on to help those with stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injury, hearing loss and developmental delay.
Once a puppy is raised, it moves on to six to nine months of professional training in one of CCI’s six centers across the country. Hester will head to Medford, Long Island, for her studies. There, she will finish learning more than 40 commands, being taught everything from how to open and close doors and turn lights on and off to honing the skills necessary to pull a wheelchair. After that, she will be ready to be matched with a human partner. Hester and her new friend will take part in a two-week training to learn how to work together.
Only four of every 10 dogs make it through the rigorous training as graduates, according to CCI.
For now, Nielsen provides Hester’s initial training while his wife, Lorena, and 10- year-old son, Chase, reinforce what she has learned. It helps that both Thomas and Lorena work from home.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s fun, too.”
The process is also a learning experience for Nielsen. His prior work at a veterinary hospital has been helpful, as has being a previous dog owner.
“I’ve had dogs since I was a kid … but the commands and the training, I just kind of learn,” he said, adding that he gets help from a training manual and video, along with classes he attends with the pup.
“It’s patience; it’s a lot of patience,” he said. “She’s doing great — she’s like having a 2-year-old, but she’s doing great.”
Luckily for Hester, one of the commands she must learn is “release,” which means downtime for the dog.
“There’s working, and there are times when they can just have fun and chill,” Nielsen said.
Throughout Hester’s stay with the Nielsens, the family pays for her food and vet bills as if she’s their own, all while bracing themselves for an inevitable goodbye.
Nielsen acknowledged that it won’t be easy to let go of the precocious pup, but knowing that she’ll provide life-changing help for someone eases the blow.
“It’s very rewarding to know where she’s going and what she’s going to do,” he said. “That’s how I’m kind of getting over [that].”
Also helpful is the possibility of taking on another puppy, Nielsen said, adding that he and Lorena have considered getting a dog of their own.
According to Bentzinger, although the puppy raisers ceremoniously hand over the dog’s leash to its partner at a graduation ceremony, many graduate teams form lifelong bonds with the volunteers.
“It is incredibly emotional,” Bentzinger said of the graduation. “There isn’t a dry eye in the house.”
CCI runs solely on donations, providing dogs and lifetime support services free of charge to those with disabilities. For more information on the organization or to become a puppy raiser, visit cci.org or call 800-572-BARK.