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ECAD breeds and trains Assistance Dogs for clients with a wide variety of disabilities and needs. Our dogs are taught to retrieve items, open doors, activate light switches, pull wheelchairs, balance, brace, and perform many other highly specialized tasks through the ECADemy© training program.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Training Update-Veteran's Litter
The Veteran's Litter is busy at work at JBFCS. Ace, Bauer, Boone and Hanson have started the "Lion Tamer Game" with their student handlers. What is the "Lion Tamer Game" you may ask. ECAD Instructor/Trainer Lia Schwartz tells us :
It's when we have 4-6 dogs out at a time, all on jump on boxes. One student (the lion tamer) controls all the dogs at one time. So the first student has to get all the dogs to "sit". The second student has to get all the dogs to "down". The third student has to get all the dogs to "off" and "go in". Basically, all the dogs must be in position at the same time. If the student handlers can only get 5 of the 6 dogs into position and can't get the 6th, and then loses all of them, they have to start over.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Designer litter Training update
This week in ECAD Puppy training!
Designer Litter
Armani from the designer litter is working with his student
handler. He is doing “Look” with objects on the floor. The Look command directs
the dog to look around for whatever it is you are designated. Once mastering
look he will move on to “Get it” which requires the dog to retrieve the item
that you have designated. Armani
is doing great having moved on to “look” for Two objects! WTG Armani and
trainers!
Armani has also started "up, light". Up, light means he is jumping up to the
light switch and will begin practicing turning it on and off. His zipper &
jacket/hoodie skills are real good and he seems to enjoy doing this task a lot.
Chanel marched in the Throgs Neck Parade St Patrick’s Day
Parade with her home handler , sporting a bandana and seemed to have to
problems at all with the drums and bagpipes. Chanel is a natural parade marcher
not being effected by any of the very loud parade distractions.
Dior appears to truly enjoy working and accomplishing
things for handlers. His skill levels are improving on his tugging and
untugging of zippers & jackets/hoodies, looking and retrieving various
items, tugging open doors etc.
Here is Armani at a recent smooch-a-pooch event.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Disney Litter Update
Daisy Participated in public training. Daisy went to the Bank, restaurant and the Grocery store. She was pretty good with distractions like food and people. She retrieved a set of dropped keys, a box of filters and brought them to her trainer. That is one smart little duck..um puppy!!!
Hey Everyone Daisy here !
When we start our training in restaurants I have to stay close to my team member and keep my nose off the floor. I go immediately under the table or stay close to my teammate. If the table is too small, I stay lying down or sitting and move just enough to be comfortable!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
New service dog helps LI woman embrace life
Originally published: March 4, 2012 8:18 PM
Updated: March 4, 2012 8:59 PM
By IGOR KOSSOV. Special to Newsday
Jeanie Waters with her new assistance dog McGrew
Jeanie Waters will have no trouble keeping up in the Rockville Centre St. Patrick's Day Parade because McGrew, her new golden retriever, will be there to pull her wheelchair.
Waters, 53, a former auto mechanic, was born with muscular dystrophy and lost the ability to walk in 1984, after she fell and broke her neck. She had since obtained a law degree and practiced civil rights law on behalf of people with disabilities. She also won medals at three Paralympics events for wheelchair racing, taking gold in Barcelona in 1992.
Twenty years later, even the indomitable Waters, of Rockville Centre, needs some help getting around and she loves the support of working dogs. "After six months, I couldn't live without her," said Waters of her old dog, who died recently. In the intervening period, during a slushy day, it took her an hour and a half to get around the block. "With a dog, I could have gotten through in five minutes," she said.
READ: More uplifting stories on Long Island
Tugging the wheelchair will be just one of McGrew's jobs. He is also being trained to help Waters reposition her body on the bed, brace her when she needs support and bring her medicine. Dogs also can be trained to wake veterans from post-traumatic stress nightmares and watch over autistic children.
Such versatility is one reason Waters chooses to use a dog-assisted manual wheelchair instead of a motorized one.
Just like her first four-legged helpmate, Waters found McGrew at Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities, a nonprofit dog training company, where she is now a board member. During the two-week program, she lives at ECAD's campus in Dobbs Ferry where the first step was to match her with a dog and train the dog to thoroughly understand her.
Her first match, Louis, didn't take to pulling a wheelchair; McGrew took to the task.
"We just fell in love with him," Waters said of herself and her father.
The new companions will graduate from the program Wednesday. On March 24, many of them will be in Rockville Centre's St. Patrick's Day parade, which, for 16 years, has made a centerpiece out of raising money for three charities per year, each allowed to participate just once. Waters said that last year, each charity got about $23,000. This year, ECAD is one of the organizations to receive funds.
The parade committee sponsored Waters' stay at ECAD, where she said Mayor Francis X. Murray of Rockville Centre called to wish her well. When she goes home, she has a job at the local CVS as a greeter until she can get her surgery next summer and perhaps return to practicing law on a regular basis. For now, Waters is excited to graduate with McGrew and is looking forward to this year's parade.
"We're gonna have a float, we're gonna have veterans there and maybe some of the kids," she said. "And we raised over $700,000 in the past 16 years. We're gonna hit the $1 million mark soon."
Originally published: March 4, 2012 8:18 PM
Updated: March 4, 2012 8:59 PM
By IGOR KOSSOV. Special to Newsday
Jeanie Waters with her new assistance dog McGrew
Jeanie Waters will have no trouble keeping up in the Rockville Centre St. Patrick's Day Parade because McGrew, her new golden retriever, will be there to pull her wheelchair.
Waters, 53, a former auto mechanic, was born with muscular dystrophy and lost the ability to walk in 1984, after she fell and broke her neck. She had since obtained a law degree and practiced civil rights law on behalf of people with disabilities. She also won medals at three Paralympics events for wheelchair racing, taking gold in Barcelona in 1992.
Twenty years later, even the indomitable Waters, of Rockville Centre, needs some help getting around and she loves the support of working dogs. "After six months, I couldn't live without her," said Waters of her old dog, who died recently. In the intervening period, during a slushy day, it took her an hour and a half to get around the block. "With a dog, I could have gotten through in five minutes," she said.
READ: More uplifting stories on Long Island
Tugging the wheelchair will be just one of McGrew's jobs. He is also being trained to help Waters reposition her body on the bed, brace her when she needs support and bring her medicine. Dogs also can be trained to wake veterans from post-traumatic stress nightmares and watch over autistic children.
Such versatility is one reason Waters chooses to use a dog-assisted manual wheelchair instead of a motorized one.
Just like her first four-legged helpmate, Waters found McGrew at Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities, a nonprofit dog training company, where she is now a board member. During the two-week program, she lives at ECAD's campus in Dobbs Ferry where the first step was to match her with a dog and train the dog to thoroughly understand her.
Her first match, Louis, didn't take to pulling a wheelchair; McGrew took to the task.
"We just fell in love with him," Waters said of herself and her father.
The new companions will graduate from the program Wednesday. On March 24, many of them will be in Rockville Centre's St. Patrick's Day parade, which, for 16 years, has made a centerpiece out of raising money for three charities per year, each allowed to participate just once. Waters said that last year, each charity got about $23,000. This year, ECAD is one of the organizations to receive funds.
The parade committee sponsored Waters' stay at ECAD, where she said Mayor Francis X. Murray of Rockville Centre called to wish her well. When she goes home, she has a job at the local CVS as a greeter until she can get her surgery next summer and perhaps return to practicing law on a regular basis. For now, Waters is excited to graduate with McGrew and is looking forward to this year's parade.
"We're gonna have a float, we're gonna have veterans there and maybe some of the kids," she said. "And we raised over $700,000 in the past 16 years. We're gonna hit the $1 million mark soon."
Saturday, March 3, 2012
ECAD therapy dogs are part of the Memorial Pet Therapy located in Hollywood Florida
The dogs were greeters at a hospital conference- called Patient Family Centered Care.
Pumpkin , of course was the best one there!
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