Paws and Effect

Take a Moment, Make a Difference… 

Canine Craze has enjoyed a relationship with Paws & Effect since 2006.  This last October, we joined forces to create five public service announcements, raising awareness for service dogs and the role they play in our community. By featuring the results of our efforts, we hope that you will join us in supporting this wonderful organization.

Paws & Effect is a nonprofit organization based in Des Moines, Iowa that raises, trains and places high-quality, well-socialized service dogs. As the organization has solidified its place in the community, it desires to expand the number of dogs it can provide, with the intentions that at least 75% of the service dog recipients pay no cost at all for their service dogs.

Paws & Effect is focused on two types of service dogs. The first type of service dog will have a mobility skill set; the second type of service dog will work to offset the debilitating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in veterans. These two skill sets, when combined, gives Paws & Effect the unique opportunity to meet what it believes will be an increased demand for service dogs due to the largest Army Reserve deployment in Iowa since World War II. Paws & Effect will be bringing 8-10 dogs into its organization during October 2010, with the intention of placing those dogs in October 2012.

Mobility Service Dogs are trained to perform the following skills:
• retrieve common household items including telephones and television remotes
• open and close interior hinged doors
• open and close cabinets, dresser drawers and closets
• strike the pressure plate to open handicapped accessible doors
• pull wheelchairs
• help an individual with balance
• turn lights on and off
• help undress an individual by removing their socks, shoes and shirt

Psychiatric Service Dogs are trained to:
• stand in front of and perpendicular to their handler to keep approaching people at a comfortable distance
• open and close interior hinged doors
• turn lights on and off
• “pop a corner”
• “check around”
• gently nudge an individual to stop a flashback from continuing

Paws & Effectcovers all of the expensesand costs associated with raising puppies to the age at which they are placed. This includes acquisition costs, insurance, unremibursed medical expenses, food, treats, toys crates, beds, leashes, vest and all other incidental expenses. Additionally, Paws & Effect maintains a very good relationship with Canine Craze in which its service dogs in-training can go to daycare or be boarded at no cost to the puppy raiser.

Paws & Effectwill be hosting group classes to help puppy raisers achieve the confidence and capability necessary to best support each dog in its journey to service work. Todd Cerveris shared his experience raising Tag, a mobility service dog placed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a gentleman who has MS as follows.

“Raising & caring for – being responsible for – any living thing is a daunting practice. When that living thing is a puppy meant to grow into a service dog destined for helping one handicapped individual enjoy the freedom and access to the world that most of us take for granted, “daunting” can easily become “intimidating.” Fortunately, with daily expert guidance from Paws & Effect, our time spent as puppy raisers was nothing short of a joy. The love and adoration of a tail-wagging, wet-nosed, morning-greeter, ball-fetching, friend-making, constantly amusing, endlessly affectionate, and smart-as-a-whip 9-month-old yellow lab is a certain level of heaven that has few comparisons on this mortal coil. And every step of the way, Paws & Effect was at the ready with advice, training tips, medical insight, nutrition ideas, and suggestions for excellent resources of all kinds. It is the kind of attention that may only otherwise be accorded to NASA astronauts and Olympic athletes.
 
The concept of giving that up, of turning him over so that he may fulfill his role as a service animal, after helping him grow and develop, can likewise go from “daunting” to “heart-wrenching”. Again, Paws & Effect was there – with words of comfort, yes, but more to the point – with a level of training that is so inspirational and an insight into proper placement that is so sensitive to the needs of both the animal and the recipient, that we were beyond proud to have played a part, however small, in one person’s independence. We were part of something tremendous – we helped someone go from surviving to truly living. The dog we raised gave us that opportunity. Paws & Effect gave us that opportunity. And for that – and for some of the most delicious months of puppyhood anyone could ask we for – we will always be deeply, deeply grateful.”
 

Paws & Effect is endeavoring to raise funds to support its growth and to continue its presence in Iowa.
You may learn more about Paws & Effect on their blog
Becky Beach – beckysbeach@aol.com