Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities

THE PROGRAM
ECAD, Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities, was founded by Dale and Lu Picard in 1995. Its' mission is to educate and place Service Dogs with people with disabilities so they will have greater independence and mobility. To date, ECAD has placed 200 Service Dogs in over twenty states. ECAD has a high success rate in achieving its mission: to place educated canines assisting people with disabilities so that they can live a more independent and mobile life. ECAD places on average fifteen educated Service Dogs a year and aspire to raise this to 30 dogs per year. This is particularly impressive as this kind of training requires two years of intense work with each dog. ECAD has training facilities in CT and NY. A unique feature of ECAD is that all dogs placed are trained by at-risk children and teens attending alternative schools. At present, ECAD dogs are educated on seven campuses in CT and NY. The Picards began ECADemy© fourteen years ago, finalizing the curriculum two years later.

Over the years, both Dale and Lu have found the mutual benefits between dog and young trainer invaluable. By assuming the roles of teachers and service providers, the students learn to set goals, to have patience and self-control, to achieve self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment, often for the first time in their lives. "Time and again, I have seen three lives changed, a teen, a client and a dog," says Lu Picard.

RECIPIENTS
ECAD's program tailors each dogs skill to the specific needs of the client whether they are Wounded Warriors who have become disabled and/or are contending with PTSD, children with autism, (ECAD is one of the few accredited Service Dog providers which accepts children as young as two years old), or people living with a variety of disabilities including Multiple Sclerosis or Muscular Dystrophy. Project HEAL was developed in recent years to specifically educate dogs for the growing number of Veterans needing Assistance Dogs. As part of Project HEAL, Therapy Dogs are brought to Veterans Administration Hospitals and schools.

BREEDING
The dogs are bred at the Laura J. Niles Volunteer and Breeding Center in Torrington, CT where area youth volunteer with kennel tasks and education. ECAD dogs are Golden and Labrador Retrievers because of the breeds' temperament, good health and strength. When the pups are 8-16 weeks old, they are introduced to the students. For the next two years they will see these dogs through each phase of the training, from kindergarten to Team Training and graduation, trained in different levels of skills at one or more of the ECADemy© schools.

TRAINING
The growing dogs do their college or graduate schoolwork at Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY. At this point, the dogs will know the basic skills of obedience, retrieving, and tugging. The CV trainers, under the guidance of ECAD's permanent staff, one of them a volunteer, then refine those skills until the dogs are 100% reliable.

ECAD Service Dogs are taught to respond to 80 plus commands. At the completion of their two years of "education" they will be able to do such things as retrieve items, open doors, activate light switches, pull wheelchairs, balance, brace and perform many other highly specialized skills. Additionally, because of their very nature, ECAD dogs are capable of giving unconditional love and devotion to the person who needs them.

After extensive interviews with potential clients by Lu Picard, the strengths of each dog will be matched to the needs of clients accepted. During a two-week period, clients, dogs, and teachers will come together for an intense period of education known as Team Training (fondly referred to as "Boot Camp" by the Veterans). It is here the dog and its partner will begin the bonding process with personal educating sessions, including visits to a mall. This culminates in "Graduation Day" when the Service Dog and its human will depart for their life together, leaving the student trainers and volunteers with a bittersweet feeling of pride and sadness, but full acknowledgement of a job well done by all.

An evaluation of each dog and client "Team" will take place every three months during the first year, at six-month intervals during the second, and then yearly for the next three years.

ECADemy© PUPPIES ARE RAISED and TRAINED BY AT RISK YOUTH
Unlike other service dog organizations that rely on individuals called 'puppy walkers or puppy raisers", ECAD puppies are raised and trained by "at risk youth", who reside in schools with their own dormitories. Puppies are assigned to an individual student who is responsible for its training and development from 8 wks Ð 14 mo.

The dogs are eight to sixteen weeks old until they are placed with a client at age two. Through this activity, the students learn to set goals and solve problems using patience, communication skills, and self-control techniques, skills that will prove useful when they are looking for employment.

ECAD is able to sustain this level of success due to a unique feature the Picards developed and incorporated into the program in 1997: ECADemy©

ECADemy© is a vocational education program that takes place on five alternative school campuses in lower New York, all of which specialize in helping children and teens with emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. These at-risk children and teens assume the role of teachers and service providers as they train the dogs, from the time the dogs are eight to sixteen weeks old until they are placed with a client at age two. Through this activity, the students learn to set goals and solve problems using patience, communication skills, and self-control techniques, skills that will prove useful when they are looking for employment.

This is the straightforward description of ECADemy©. What it achieves on a personal level is so much more. Many of these students are struggling with anger and pain, perhaps a sense of abandonment; some may never have received or known how to give love. When working with dogs they learn to trust, to establish a sense of self-worth by helping others, and by seeing their goals realized. And often, they are tangibly rewarded by the kind of love that only a dog can give, a nudge from a warm nose, or a big slurpy kiss.

"We see the dogs provide even the most difficult students with immediate and non-judgmental feedback about their own behavior. The pride they gain from their accomplishments Ð and their dogs'- is invaluable," says Lu Picard. The schools participating are The Children's Village and Greenburgh Eleven USFD in Dobbs Ferry, Green Chimneys in Brewster, The Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in Hawthorne and the Bronx, and Graham Windham in Hastings.

HOME FOR THE WEEKEND - Volunteers Needed
This is a volunteer program where every weekend (and perhaps before and after school) individuals are needed to care for these puppies in their private homes. This home environment is necessary for several reasons. One is to relieve the student of the continuous responsibility of caring for their puppy. Another is so that the puppy has an opportunity to be socialized and acclimated to a typical home environment.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP - Volunteers Needed
ECAD received its non-profit status in 1995. As a non-profit organization, ECAD relies on sponsors, corporation, individuals, and fund raising events. To train a Service Dog it costs an estimated $30,000.00 and the client is responsible for raising $5,500.00 to $8,500.00 depending on the required need. For additional information on ECAD and its programs, please visit www.ecad1.org

ECAD is also a member of Facebook and has daily updates on its activities.