Why autism? Why German Shepherds? Why South
Carolina? How did this program happen?
Dogs For Disabled was founded in 1991 by internationally-known trainer Connie
Cleveland. Based on her engineering background, Connie always believed that dog
training should make sense--and WORK--not only in a show ring, but against the
realistic background of daily life. All our trainers learned to use pragmatic
effectiveness as the basis for measuring progress.
The Americans With Disabilities Act was new when we started. ASA dogs were far in
the future. Everybody knew what a guide dog was, but back then, even the concept
of using a dog to help with a wheelchair or crutches took a lot of explaining. As the
years rolled along we learned (sometimes through the school of hard knocks) a lot
about improvising training techniques to meet the specific needs of individual clients.
DFD became a well known--small, but potent--training group, placing more than 200
dogs in jobs serving a wide variety of disabilities, including Paraplegia, Quadriplegia,
Spina Bifida, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons, amputation, substantial burns, and
brain injury. Graduate dogs have been placed in 11 states, South America, and
Canada, earning Dogs For Disabled recognition as one of the highest-quality
training agencies in the country.
Continue . . .
Carolina? How did this program happen?
Dogs For Disabled was founded in 1991 by internationally-known trainer Connie
Cleveland. Based on her engineering background, Connie always believed that dog
training should make sense--and WORK--not only in a show ring, but against the
realistic background of daily life. All our trainers learned to use pragmatic
effectiveness as the basis for measuring progress.
The Americans With Disabilities Act was new when we started. ASA dogs were far in
the future. Everybody knew what a guide dog was, but back then, even the concept
of using a dog to help with a wheelchair or crutches took a lot of explaining. As the
years rolled along we learned (sometimes through the school of hard knocks) a lot
about improvising training techniques to meet the specific needs of individual clients.
DFD became a well known--small, but potent--training group, placing more than 200
dogs in jobs serving a wide variety of disabilities, including Paraplegia, Quadriplegia,
Spina Bifida, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons, amputation, substantial burns, and
brain injury. Graduate dogs have been placed in 11 states, South America, and
Canada, earning Dogs For Disabled recognition as one of the highest-quality
training agencies in the country.
Continue . . .
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