Service dogs learn specialized skills

STORY BY HANNAH JOHNSON
photos by Margaret Degman

A kennel door opens and a flash of red, coppery fur bolts from its restraint of thin black bars.

After lapping the room to a raucous cheer of barks and howls, the shaggy dog named Zola finally processes the barely audible “Come!” directed at her. She obliges in several short and animated leaps, coming to a fidgety rest at the feet of a petite woman, who pauses before giving her next cue.

Denise CoStanten, founder and executive director of Brigadoon Service Dogs, keeps her hand hidden in the pocket of her windbreaker, ready to reward 1-year-old Zola with kibble as she completes each task correctly and promptly.

Zola is one of 18 dogs in the current class of trainees in Brigadoon‘s program. Each dog learns important skills from CoStanten.

These dogs are training to become service dogs for people with specialized needs, which differ widely. Brigadoon clients include people with Down syndrome, severe anxiety, traumatic brain injury and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, CoStanten says.

Service dogs at Brigadoon’s facility undergo specialized training daily to clock in a minimum 300 hours and gain Assistance Dog International certification. Each dog is trained for specific needs. Skills include learning to turn on and off light switches, unzip clothing, open doors, identify and notify low blood sugar levels and other tasks unique to their owner’s needs.

Two become one

Dogs and humans come to Brigadoon separately, but they need to leave in pairs: well adjusted, knowledgeable and able to work as a unit. In order to achieve that comfortable codependence, both endure separate trainings specific to their species.

Clients approach Brigadoon with their needs in a service dog and CoStanten makes an educated guess about which dogs would fit each person’s personality and lifestyle.

“We’re expecting these dogs to not act like dogs in public,” CoStanten says. “You’re taking a lot of natural tendencies and telling them ‘When you’re dressed, when you’re on this leash…you have to pay attention to me and me only.’ But they’re still dogs. That’s why [the correct] temperament is so important.”

In the decade since Brigadoon opened its doors, only a couple of the 40 client-dog pairings didn’t work, but she attributes the mismatches to not trusting her gut instincts, CoStanten says. The owners were matched with different dogs, which resolved the issues.

It’s been about a year since David Heathers received a positive pairing with a stocky, 3-year-old black lab named Maverick. Heathers, a Marine Corps veteran who copes with severe anxiety, rarely used to leave his house, to avoid crowds and being in public. His mother found and contacted Brigadoon for him.

“I used to be shut in,” Heathers says. “I still am a little bit, but I’m a lot better.”

With the accompaniment of Maverick, Heathers can more comfortably leave his home, which he has recently moved into on his own — with Maverick, of course. They enjoy going to new parks and exploring new trails together, Heathers says.

Since having Maverick by his side, Heathers says he can tell from onlookers’ stares that they wonder why he has a service dog. Otherwise, people are generally nice and compliment Maverick’s looks and manners, Heathers says.

“It’s good, actually,” he says. “It takes their attention off of me and people are mainly looking at him.”

Although Maverick successfully navigated the Brigadoon program and found a human match, not all dogs make it to graduation due to temperament issues, CoStanten says. If a dog is too aggressive or too skittish, it doesn’t make an effective service animal and must go to someone without specialized needs, CoStanten says.

The dogs that do make it, however, get to meet clients. A Brigadoon client may be introduced to five different dogs for CoStanten to observe their interactions with each one. She asks each client to rate the dogs they met with a rating of one through five, with five being the best impression and one being the worst. CoStanten then gives each interaction her own rating.

“The final decision is mine,” she says.

Expanding the program

CoStanten has been at the helm of Brigadoon since 2004, but now she is grooming her replacement for executive director of Brigadoon.

Western alumna Rebecca Pickthorn, 22, assumed the role of assistant director last summer after she finished her internship at Brigadoon. Pickthorn is currently learning all the minute details CoStanten has to impart after 45 years of dog training experience.

“She’s learning the ropes,” CoStanteen says. “It takes a long time. She loves what we’re all about; she loves the dogs. I just try to teach her as much as I can about dogs. In my eyes, part of running this company is knowing every facet of it.”

Pickthorn has many responsibilities to prepare her to take on an entire dog-training program. Pickthorn does many of Brigadoon’s administrative tasks including handling the volunteers, some grant writing and fielding phone calls from clients — not to mention taking care of the dogs themselves. But the menial tasks don’t dampen her passion for the dogs.

“I fell in love with the fact that you can change lives, a dog at a time,” Pickthorn says.

Her eagerness to learn has been met with increasing responsibility. Pickthorn ran the entire 2013 fundraising auction in September 2013, with the help of some volunteers. CoStanten looks for opportunities to give Pickthorn more and more tasks, which the young assistant director attributes to the fact that they share lots of qualities, she says. Both are very driven and dedicated to Brigadoon’s mission, Pickthorn says.

“I will do anything for Brigadoon,” Pickthorn says.

Zola, on the other hand, will do anything for praise and a bit of kibble. With CoStanten’s direction, she tugs open a refrigerator door and fetches a bottle of water. CoStanten directs an eager Zola to bring the bottle of water to her, and she does. CoStanten taps the top of the open refrigerator door and Zola hops up onto her two hind legs and pushes the door closed with her front paws.

She simply wants people to be able to experience the qualities these service dogs possess, CoStanten says.