WINCHESTER — Dogs are amazing. Beyond providing unconditional love and loyal companionship, they also can help people who have physical and mental challenges cope with day-to-day life.
It takes special training to get dogs ready to be service animals, and it takes special people to provide that training. Two of those special people live here in Winchester.
Cassella and Sam Frederickson have fostered 10 puppies on behalf of Canine Companions, a nonprofit California-based organization that provides service dogs to help people with special needs, comfort military veterans and uplift the spirits of people in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons.
“I also helped to co-raise a couple of others,” Cassella Frederickson said during a recent interview. “I got my first puppy in eighth grade going into ninth grade and have been raising ever since.”
Jeannine Vestuto, a trainer at Canine Companions’ New York training facility, said her organization breeds its own Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and mixes of the two breeds, then sends them out to foster homes when they’re 8 weeks old.
Puppy raisers care for the dogs for a year or more, taking special care to prepare them for an intensive six- to nine-month training regime at a Canine Companions facility.
“We get them used to all types of different adaptive equipment,” Vestuto said, “and to learn all the specific skills that our clients could need like retrieving items off the floor, tugging open doors, pushing automatic push plates, working around power chairs and manual chairs, all that stuff.”
When a dog’s training is complete and he or she is ready to graduate, Canine Companions pairs it with a person or facility and holds a graduation ceremony. The dog is then entrusted to the recipient at no charge, but the new owner is responsible for its ongoing care.
Since service dogs are working animals, they are allowed to retire once they reach about 12 years old. At that point, Vestuto said, the owner is given the option to return the dog or adopt it.
“Some people choose to [adopt]; some people are unable to,” Vestuto said. “Either way, we make sure that these dogs find loving homes.”
On average, Vestuto said Canine Companions invests about $50,000 in each service dog.
As puppy raisers, folks like the Fredericksons have to do more than just play with their pups. They have to attend at least two classes per month, socialize the animals, teach them basic skills, cover all food and veterinary costs and a great deal more. The pups also need to be monitored at all times, so Cassella Frederickson, a teacher at Middleburg Montessori School in Marshall, said she takes her dogs to work with her.
Raising a puppy requires a major investment of time, money and love, and it all ends with a puppy raiser parting with the dog that has been a member of the family for a year.
“I think the reward of knowing that they’re going to do their job to the best of their ability and be with someone who really loves them with all their heart really makes it easy [to surrender the puppies],” Cassella Frederickson said. “It’s hard because you form such a great bond with a dog, but to see the joy and the independence and the love the dog has for their next human is pretty awesome.”
The Fredericksons most recent dog was Kane IV, a Labrador/golden retriever mix who was paired with 14-year-old Zoe Hwang of Ellicott City, Maryland, a girl with developmental and physical challenges.
“Kane assists Zoe with tasks like picking up dropped items, opening and closing doors, and turning on light switches, to name just a few of the 40 professional commands he’s been taught,” said John Bentzinger, manager of public relations and marketing for Canine Companions.
“Everything is going great,” Vestuto added. “Kane was a very sweet, very gentle, loving boy from the beginning.”
The Fredericksons were there when Zoe and her parents attended Kane IV’s graduation in February in New York.
“It was beautiful to watch,” Cassella Frederickson said. “She (Zoe) got so excited. You could see the joy on her face when she saw Kane.”
Since Kane IV had been away from the Fredericksons for several months while undergoing training, it took him a minute to recognize his former caregivers.
“Then he was ... so excited to see us and wagging his tail,” Cassella Frederickson said. “But immediately, as soon as his new person came into the room, he was attentive and right next to her. You could just tell that he was, like, ‘Oh, this is my job and I love her, and this is just perfect.’ And you could see that in her face, too.”
The Fredericksons aren’t finished with Canine Companions. Since January, they have been co-fostering another puppy with friends Colleen and Richard Roberts.
“He has a completely different personality than some of the other dogs we’ve raised,” Cassella Frederickson said. “He’s very laid back and kind of go-with-the-flow, which is a good thing but I’m used to a more active dog so it’s a different training style to get to know him.”
To learn more about Canine Companions and becoming a foster parent for one of its puppies, or to learn if you qualify for one of the nonprofit’s service dogs, visit canine.org.
