Congratulations to Curtsy -
New Shelter to Service Graduate
The Leon County Humane Society's
Shelter-to-Service Program (LCHS-STS)
Melissa Abernathy of Leon County Humane Society and Dr. Lynn Hagood of North Florida Animal Hospital, pose with Curtsy before she departs for the Canine Academy Training Center in Texas.
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The Leon County Humane Society offers a unique program to this area called the Shelter-to-Service Program. This program selects assistance dogs for people with disabilities or for use in law enforcement and is successful due to the tireless efforts of the program director, Natalie Sachs-Ericsson. Natalie routinely evaluates dogs in area shelters that could have potential as assistance dogs. Once transferred into the program, they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and receive a thorough medical evaluation to certify their fitness for service work. While in the program, the dogs also work on socialization and basic obedience skills before being sent for more specialized training.
Once recent success story is Curtsy. Curtsy is a 2-year-old Golden Retriever who joined Leon County Humane Society's Shelter-to-Service program after being identified as a candidate at the Tallahassee Leon Community Animal Service Center. Natalie Sachs-Ericsson of LCHS-STS assessed her behavioral potential for service work and found she was an ideal canine candidate. Lynn Hagood, DVM, of North Florida Animal Hospital, assessed her physical fitness and made sure her physical needs were met.
After her basic training was completed here in Tallahassee, Curtsy was transferred to the Canine Academy Training Center in Leander, Texas, on May 22, 2006 to begin training for her career as a service dog! We are so proud of our new graduate!! Depending upon her unique talents, she could be trained for search and rescue, drug or hazardous material detection (such as bomb-sniffing), or to work with police or fire departments (arson investigation). In addition we are pleased to note that the Canine Academy's website home page features the "paw print" of Smokey, a black lab originally from the LCHS Shelter-to-Service program. Smokey is now a fully trained accelerant detection dog.
Although most dogs that are in the Shelter-to-Service Program do successfully complete training, occasionally some dogs are not able to graduate. Those dogs are adopted to loving families through our foster program. In either scenario, the Shelter-to-Service Program gives them a second chance for a meaningful life.
Golden Retriever Lives up to His Name!
TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Nothing comes between Kane, the golden retriever, and his toy. Nothing. Fences? He goes under them and through them. Poison ivy? He doesn't hesitate.
"When we started to learn the retrieve, he started to get crazy with it," said Natalie Sachs-Ericsson. "It is an obsession." What may make 18-month-old Kane a handful for dog-lovers makes him perfect for his new career as a search and rescue dog in Miami. He started his new life Saturday when he was handed off to a new owner. Miami's a long way from the Wakulla County Animal Shelter where Sachs-Ericsson first met Kane in January.
"He was the most gorgeous dog I'd ever seen," she said. Shelter workers had identified Kane as the kind of dog Sachs-Ericsson seeks out for the Shelter-to-Service program that trains dogs to work with persons with disabilities. Kane, a purebred retriever, had a stable temperament and exhibited no aggression, even with other dogs.
The service program, run by Sachs-Ericsson and supported by the Leon County Humane Society, had him medically checked out. He had no heart worms. His hips and elbows were healthy and strong.
But as time went on, Kane exhibited a new trait - an unrelenting focus to retrieve his hard rubber toy. That's when Sachs-Ericsson, an associate researcher in FSU's psychology department, put out the word in training circles that she had a potential rescue dog on her hands. She received about 50 e-mail replies.
After some intense screening, Pam Lillard of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue became the lucky recipient. Lillard has been a volunteer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency's urban and search rescue team for five years. She's been looking for a new canine companion since K-lee, her black Labrador, passed away last year.
She came to town Saturday to see Kane's skills for herself and to take him home. She, too, believes Kane has the determination to locate the lost. "He's a beautiful dog, has a good temperament," Lillard said. "I think he's going to be a great search dog."
Kane will receive more obedience and agility training. He also will learn how to alert others with his bark. But these next few weeks, he'll be getting "lots of love" from Lillard and her daughter as he gets used to his new surroundings in south Florida.
Sachs-Ericsson, Lillard and Kane spent Saturday together in Tallahassee. "Now I've met her, I feel like I can relax. He'll be in good hands," Sachs-Ericsson said. "I thought about keeping him. But his drive is so intense. I just know he's got a higher calling."
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Copyright (c) 2005 Tallahassee Democrat
