Retrieving Independence

Service Dog Capabilities

webclinician@patvb.com (PatVB) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:26:24 GMT

All dogs cannot do all things, but with proper dog selection and proper training, service dogs can complete many tasks that improve the quality of life for many physically and psychologically disabled individuals.

"Serving With Canines" Prison Program Needs Your Support

webclinician@patvb.com (PatVB) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:18:50 GMT

“ServingWith Canines” is a cooperative program between Retrieving Independence (RI) and the Tennessee Department of Correction in which inmates learn to train assistance dogs. Begun in August 2012 at the Turney Center Industrial Complex in Only, Tennessee, inmates receive 30 hours of intense training.

After successfully completing their initial training, a team of two inmates is assigned a puppy that will live, work and train with them for the next 12 to 18 months under the direct supervision of RI trainers and staff. In other states inmate dog training programs have proven that the time and energy inmates are able to provide, promotes higher success rates than the conventional puppy raiser programs.

The “Serving With Canines” program will help meet the increasing need for assistance dogs while providing an educational and work opportunity for inmates.

Our training techniques that we teach the inmates utilize positive, choice based methods to optimize each dog’s potential. Our puppies are born at RI, allowing us to begin working with them around 3 1/2 weeks of age which has proven to enhance their brain function. They are tested at 8 weeks of age to carefully evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. During the next two months before placement with the inmates, puppies receive intense socialization and training geared to their individual personality. RI trains by teaching, not forcing and we “take the time that it takes” to produce a dog with the sensitivity to comfort and serve with a loving heart.

Within the next 12 months the TDOC is looking to expand the number of dogs and men participating in the program with the expectation that as many as 50 dogs could ultimately be in training at the facility. This would significantly expand RI’s ability to place service dogs with adults and children to assist with mobility disabilities, seizure disorders and diabetes alert.

In order to meet this overwhelming need for Service Dogs, we need your help. Our current need is for $20,000 to fully equip the Serving With Canines program. Our long term goal, as we build the program, is to raise $150,000 per year. All donations are welcome and tax deductible. Thank you for your help.

Retrieving Independence and Serving With Canines Facebook Page

pat@patvb.com (Administrator) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 01:52:37 GMT

We have a new Facebook page for Retrieving Independence and Serving With Canines.

Please go out to our page and "like" us.

Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/ServingWithCanines

Weekend Puppy Furlough Families

pat@patvb.com (Administrator) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 02:37:21 GMT

Both obedience training and socialization are vitally important in the upbringing of puppies in training to be service dogs. Retrieving Independence trains prison inmates to provide the obedience training of their puppies. However, the puppies require more socializing than they can receive in a prison environment.

The Weekend Puppy Furlough program fills this void. They take the puppies to activities that are not available in prison: car rides, movie theatres, festivals, the mall, childrens’ ball games, etc. The Puppy Furlough Families have the puppies from Friday afternoon until Sunday night, when they are returned to the prison to resume training with their handlers.

Excitement and Change at Retrieving Independence

no_email@example.com (salesner) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:25:24 GMT

At Retrieving Independence (RI), change is in the wind. A new program has been initiated that we want to tell all our friends about. This new program is called “Serving with Canines”. The goal of this program is to train prison inmates to train service dogs allowing us to provide more dogs to meet the growing need of people with disabilites in Tennessee.

We will be able to take advantage of our successful dog breeding program, while providing a fulfilling job for prisoners in our state. Nationally, prison programs have demonstrated that inmates are able to provide more consistent training at a higher level than is possible in the traditional puppy raiser setting. This insures a higher success rate, which will help us to meet our goal.