If you had asked her four years ago, Linda Pollock would have described her life as isolated. Her son, Nick, had recently been diagnosed with autism. At two-and-a-half, Nick was nonverbal and not potty-trained. Pollock and her husband were unable to control him, and tantrums in restaurants and stores were common. They began to drive separately to events so one could stay with their older daughter while the other would have a way to take Nick home in the event of a meltdown. “We were excluding Nick,” reflects Pollock. “Our lives became a prison. It was awful.”
Nick would also bolt unexpectedly from his parents. On a sub-zero winter day, Nick was staying at his grandparents’ house and he walked out the front door. After 45 long minutes of searching, Pollock’s mom found her son at a nearby school carnival. “Trying to keep him safe was a huge ordeal,” she says.
Fast forward three years: Nick, now six, participates in family errands and social events. He is thriving in his classroom at Groveland Elementary School in Minnetonka. He dresses himself without argument or tantrum, adapts to new experiences, and chats with his parents at dinner. His mother, too, has changed. No longer worried about Nick’s safety or the public’s perception of her child’s meltdowns, she no longer dreads trips to Target. She credits Fisher, a loveable three-year-old yellow lab, for giving the Pollocks their life back.
Fisher is a service dog who was specifically trained by Can Do Canines, a non-profit organization based in New Hope, to work with kids with autism. The Pollocks first heard about Can Do Canines from a family friend; Nick was three years old at the time and the Pollocks were placed on a waiting list for a dog. In September 2009, when Nick was five, they were paired with Fisher. It was a match made in heaven.
Pollock recounts, “Fisher made a difference within three hours of being part of our family. When we arrived home, I asked Nick to go use the bathroom. He started to melt down. Fisher immediately approached Nick, stood over him and started licking him. Almost immediately, Nick started laughing. The meltdown was over.”
Can Do Canines executive director Al Peters has heard similar stories from other families whose children have been helped by the organization’s service dogs. “I’ve heard many parents of children with autism say that having a service dog changes everything,” he says.
Peters, who left his real estate job in 1987 to found Can Do Canines, could not be more pleased to hear this. “We want dogs that keep kids with autism safe,” says Peters. “We know that these dogs can connect the child to society.”
Peters acknowledges that there is a growing demand for services dogs who work with kids with autism. His organization, staffed largely by volunteers, graduated 30 service dogs in 2010. These dogs are trained to help individuals in five specific areas: mobility, hearing loss, seizure response, diabetes and autism. While demand remains steady for most areas, Peters says the organization cannot keep up with the demand for dogs trained to help kids with autism. With new building space in New Hope and the addition of a staff member, Peters says that Can Do Canines is on target to graduate an additional 10 dogs in 2011. He knows that this jump in the number of graduates remains contingent on both donors and volunteers.
One such volunteer, Paul Larson, is happy to support Can Do Canines. Larson and his family have spent the last year raising Cooper, a chocolate lab who will soon move back to Can Do Canines for further, specialized training. “It’s a privilege to raise this dog,” says Larson, who first got involved with Can Do Canines after the family’s oldest dog passed away.
Puppy trainers like Larson are charged with teaching a young dog basic commands and introducing the dog to a variety of public places. “We take Cooper just about everywhere—to doctor’s appointments, restaurants, stores, even movie theatres,” says Larson. “Our goal is to get Cooper used to being in public.”
But Larson spends almost as much time educating the public as he spends training Cooper. “Sometimes a quick trip to Home Depot will turn into a two-hour trip,” says Larson with a laugh. Cooper wears a red “service dog in training” coat and as a result, many people approach the Larsons about him. He is happy to help the public understand more about service dogs and their different roles.
Recently, Cooper left the Larson home to spend about a month in intensive training at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minn. Can Do Canines has developed a relationship with two nearby penitentiaries: Sandstone and Waseca. This relationship has served both groups well. The dogs benefit from the amount of time inmates are able to spend with them; Larson points out that Cooper will gain new skills and become more physically fit after his time at Sandstone. But the inmates gain, too.
Larson says that disciplinary reports are often reduced when the dogs are at Sandstone. Peters reports that inmates are greatly affected by the addition of a dog, since it may have been months—or years—since they last petted an animal. The addition of the dog to inmates’ daily routines can and does impact the inmates’ lives.
And the dogs continue to impact lives once they are paired with their new owner. Mary Rhatigan attributes the positive changes in her life to Can Do Canines and her service dog. Before being matched with her service dog, Rhatigan, a diabetic, was struggling to control her blood sugar levels. One morning in 2009, she awoke to several used blood sugar test strips, but no recollection of the night before. Her blood sugar meter’s history revealed that she had reached a dangerously low blood sugar of 32.
“That really scared me,” Rhatigan says, “to the point that I stopped sleeping at night. I’d wake myself up every few hours to check my blood sugar because I was so afraid of what would happen if I dropped to such a low level again.”
In September 2009, Rhatigan was paired with a female black lab, Ebony. Now, Ebony accompanies Rhatigan everywhere she goes. Ebony is trained to alert Rhatigan when her blood sugar levels drop; Ebony detects the drop in blood sugar by smelling her owner’s breath. Ebony usually alerts Rhatigan by putting her paws on her lap or shoulders, or by refusing a command. Ebony even fetches her blood sugar meter, a can of soda or a bag of hard candy. “She not only alerts me when I’m low, but she’ll alert me when I’m starting to get low,” says Rhatigan. “Because of her early warnings, I’m much more aware of my blood sugar.”
Friends say that Rhatigan is a different person now. She’s less anxious under Ebony’s careful watch, but she’s also a more confident person. Rhatigan now volunteers for Can Do Canines, and she’s been asked to speak about her story at several local events. She also serves as part of a leadership program at Can Do Canines. “It’s been a great opportunity to work with the organization, and I’ve found a high degree of success,” says Rhatigan. “My involvement in this organization can impact future professional and personal opportunities.”
Simply put, Rhatigan says, “I’m able to live my life.”
In 1987, when Peters first broached the idea of opening his own business, he knew only that he wanted to help others and work with dogs. Nearly 25 years later, he does so much more than that. Can Do Canines allows its volunteers and recipients a new chance at life. Under Peters’ direction, the organization has changed the lives of many Lake Minnetonka residents. Linda Pollock attests to that; she knows Fisher unlocked a new life for Nick.
“We trust Fisher to do his job,” says Pollock, “and he’s opened doors for our family.”
