Colleen and Coco's story is a look at how our program works from beginning to end for a person who has the honest will and dedication needed to train a dog through to full certified status. Many persons claim that they want a service dog, but they do not want to take the responsibility and dedication to the project that it takes to have a real service dog. This is the story of how one of our certified graduate teams made the grade with her own dog. These dogs are not just pets that a person can parade around in a uniform and call it a Service Dog. These are highly trained dogs that some one or several some one's have put a lot of time and money, love and energy, hope and dedication in to. These dogs are not pets. If you do not want to learn how to train and care for your real service dog, then what you want and need is an emotional support dog or a companion dog. Please go and get an Emotional Support Animal, there are millions of homeless pets in this country. Taking one as a companion will save one life and make yours a happier one.

If you are training your own Service Dog, we hope that you will find our site to be useful. We suggest that you read the pages on Service Dobe Rain, as it is a blog journal jam packed with information gathered by one of our member's on a personal journey through this difficult training terrain.

Dog in rigid mobility harness made it possible

for his team-mate to walk to her car ride.

Some times my commentary seems harsh. The truth is harsh, from the cruel reality of the current state of the ADA, to my own disappointments in those persons who asked for help and then showed no gratitude nor care for all the gifts that went in to this project. My attitude is hard some times. A lot of real people spent a lot of painful hours and tears for this project. Board members spent their own funds to create this program and to keep it operating so that no one had to pay for our training assistance and expertise. Our community members opened their hearts and their pocket books to help teams reaching graduate status be able to outfit their dogs with these expensive mobility harnesses. Service Dogs are not pets, and if you are not able to grasp that concept then you are not the right person to own a Service Dog. You have to understand this fact whether you are applying to a program to be presented with a fully trained dog that you will have to go learn how to work with, or if you choose the more common Owner Trainer Route and put in the hundreds of hours training on your own time. Don't ask for a Service Dog just because you want to take it every where you go. The public that you live with deserves more respect than to be forced to put up with half trained pets shoved in their faces; and those who use Assistance Dogs will not treat you with kindness when it becomes apparent what you have done. The Department of Justice does not like it either, they call it fraud. Polly Callant, founder of High Plains Service Dogs.

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