You may have seen on TV recently the picture of the service dog lying near the casket of President George Herbert Walker Bush – very poignant and timely to our guest, dog trainer Mark Steffens’s presentation today.
Mark brought along a beautiful dog, Lemming, who is in training to become an “Assistance Dog”. Assistance dogs are not to be confused with “Guide Dogs for the Blind” because these dogs focused on assistance for the disabled.
The program grew up in Santa Rosa, California and all the “Assistance Dogs” trained by Canine Companions for Independence come from within 200 miles of Santa Rosa – something for all Californians to be proud of – and yet these trained dogs go all over the U.S. doing their important work of assisting the disabled to become independent.
Mark showed us some of the things that Lemming was being trained to do.
You can reach them by going to their web site at: www.CCI.org and you will find ways to help them with their wonderful work.
President Herrera delighted Mark by announcing that, in his honor, a book will be dedicated to the Carmichael Library (Be sure to check out the 12/4 CR Bulletin for more pictures and stories).