Kingston service dog charity in need of puppy trainers

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For the past nine years, Joanna Hearn has had a service dog by her side — an animal that she considers her best friend and also a lifesaver.

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The dogs that help people like Hearn are trained with help by volunteers, and Kingston 4 Paws, the organization that provides service dogs to people in need, says that finding volunteers to help raise their puppies is an ongoing challenge.

“I got my first service dog Lucy back in 2016 and then Joey I got almost a year and a half ago. It’s definitely been a huge help,” Hearn explained.

Hearn suffers from PTSD and seizures. For her, having a service dog helps her to be more independent.

“He helps to maintain my anxiety. It’s a combination of company, and the tasks he has to perform. He helps with depression therapy if I’m panicking. When he notices I’m getting anxious he’ll start nudging my leg to bring me back. Also, I have epilepsy, so he is able to help with that too and help to respond if I have a seizure,” she said.

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Not all service dogs can alert people when they are about to have a seizure. For Hearn, that has been a bonus with Joey. When she is about to have a seizure, Joey will come up to her and start nudging her leg.

“It’s really the luck of the draw. But a lot of dogs, what they can do is respond. For example, after I have a seizure, I am disoriented, so he is able to come up and lean against me and let me know that he is there and help ground me afterwards,” Hearn said. “I’m lucky he knows how to alert me. If he starts barking at me to tell me to sit down, I take my medication and he lets me know it’s going to be ok.”

According to Hearn, if it wasn’t for the volunteers that train the puppies, she wouldn’t be the person she is today.

“It’s huge. They wouldn’t be able to do it without the volunteers,” said Hearn. “It’s an amazing organization. Between the volunteers and staff and everyone I feel like we are a big group.”

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For the last 10 years, Kingston 4 Paws have provided 65 service dogs to people living with autism, physical challenges, seizures, PTSD and other mental health challenges. The dogs have helped people live with more independence, confidence and joy.

According to the charity’s executive director, Tina Bailey, one of their biggest challenges is finding volunteers to raise the puppies, which can be Labrador retrievers or standard poodles.

“A big part of what we need is volunteer puppy raisers who will welcome these service puppies and training into their home to help them on their service dog journey,” Bailey said. “So, taking the puppy as early as eight or nine weeks, through to when it’s matured and ready to go into advance training. We could not do what we do without volunteer puppy raisers.”

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Over the course of the dogs’ training, they learn socialization and basic obedience. The dogs must go with the volunteers wherever they go, including work, stores, restaurants and even hockey games, which helps expose them to a variety of environments.

“All the places people take the dogs…is so good for their socialization,” Bailey said. “That’s what we rely on these volunteer puppy raisers to do, to expose them to all the environments that they may encounter in their working life. Because when they are working, they need to not flinch, they need to be really comfortable in all those environments.”

The puppies typically remain with their volunteer trainers for 15 to 20 months before moving on to become professional service dogs. At any given time, Kingston 4 Paws aims to have 20 puppies in training.

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According to Bailey, one of the requirements it that volunteers must be able to take the puppy to training classes.

“You have the support of the Kingston 4 Paws team. So, when you are raising and training the puppy there are supports of the trainer. There are bi-weekly training classes and that’s part of the commitment.”

No experience is necessary. In addition, Kingston 4 Paws covers the costs of dog food, training equipment and veterinary care.

For Steve and Varley Taylor, taking on the responsibility of becoming volunteer puppy raisers is something they started doing nine years ago.

“We had never owned a dog before, so it was new to us. We had cats. It is a commitment,” Steve Taylor said. “It doesn’t matter if you haven’t raised a puppy before. We go to training.”

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Both Taylor and his wife go into the office for work, and the dog goes with them.

“We take the dog with us to work and that is good training opportunities,” he explained. “I go to the base gym, and he goes with me five times a week. So, he is used to people running around a track, sometimes there’s small children there. It’s busy. We’ve seen a couple of Fronts games this season. Of course, a hockey arena is so noisy, there’s clapping and music. Then there’s popcorn on the floor, which dogs are not allowed to eat.”

According to Taylor, they just turned their eighth puppy in for the final stage of service dog training, something that is a rewarding feeling for them each and every time.

“It’s a wonderful experience. My daughter always reminds me that it’s changed my life and my wife’s life for the better,” Taylor said. “For us it’s seeing the puppies move on, albeit that’s quite difficult at times. But it’s like your kids going off to college. But then they go on to change people’s lives in fantastic ways.”

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For Bailey, hearing the experiences of Taylor and others has always been positive.

“I hear time and time again people do it because they love dogs, and they want to make a difference in someone’s life,” Bailey said. “So, you start the journey knowing that this isn’t your own pet, this is a dog with a job to do and you’re training it and raising it to a certain expectation. Everybody that I’ve spoken to tell me that it’s such an incredibly rewarding experience and knowing that they’re raising a dog that literally is going to change someone’s life.”

Last year Kingston 4 Paws held their first graduation ceremony for the dogs, a soon to be annual event to recognize both the service animals and their volunteers. The next ceremony will be on June 22, 2025.

To become a volunteer puppy raiser there is an application process. To find out more, a virtual information session is scheduled to March 20, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. To register, send an email to info@k4paws.ca. More information can also be found at www.k4paws.ca.

mkulchar@postmedia.com

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