Prior Lake couple raising service dog for national organization

Prior Lake American

In 1988, Prior Lake residents Peter and Susan LeRoy’s son became the first person in Minnesota to receive a service dog from the organization Canine Companions for Independence.

Their son, Scott LeRoy, had muscular dystrophy and they found out about the organization through an article in a magazine. The dog, Rex, was able to help Scott LeRoy reach items as well as alert others if he needed help. But the help Rex provided went beyond the necessity.

“(Rex) was also tangible evidence that something good happened to this kid in the wheelchair,” Susan LeRoy said. “People didn’t feel so sorry for him.”

Scott LeRoy and Rex became an advocate for service dogs, working to change service dog laws in Japan. The pair even became the subject of an illustrated children’s book by author Audrey Osofsky titled “My Buddy.”

In 2003, Scott LeRoy died at 28 years old. Peter and Susan decided to volunteer with Canine Companions for Independence to help provide for others what was provided for their son. They’re currently raising their ninth dog for the organization, Haisly, an 8-month-old Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever mix.

The volunteers get the dogs at 8 weeks old and raise them until they are a year-and-a-half old. The dogs are then sent back to the organization to receive more specialized training. At that point, the volunteers have already trained the dogs on the basics — going to the bathroom outside, sitting, staying, lying down and more — as well as more specialized commands like getting up in a person’s lap, walking backward and more.

“The first few months are house training,” Peter said. “If it’s snowing or raining, you still have to take them outside.”

Once a dog is sent back, the volunteers could take a break or could receive another puppy to raise right away if they are ready.

Canine Companions for Independence was founded in 1975 and currently raises four types of assistance dogs — service dogs for those with physical disabilities, hearing dogs for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, facility dogs for work in hospitals, funeral homes, courthouses and more and skilled companions for those with physical, cognitive and developmental disabilities, according to the organization’s website.

Half of the dogs Susan and Peter have raised have gone on to be service dogs.

“You do get attached ... but you have more tears of joy and satisfaction when you see them graduate,” Susan said. “They don’t all graduate, but the ones that don’t are released to their puppy raiser or offered to the community (for adoption) through an application process.”

When the dogs return to the organization, they’re evaluated physically and mentally for traits that might make one type of assistance a better fit than another. In addition, some of the dogs will be selected to become breeders.

“If they see traits in her that might be good for a hearing dog, they send her to a different location to be trained to be a hearing dog — which takes a little longer than a service dog,” Susan said. “If they see traits that she would be a good breeder, then she’d be a breeder. Otherwise, they’ll get her fixed and move her on from there.”

At the end of the training, the dogs are worth as much as $50,000. Canine Companions for Independence provides them at no cost to applicants who need the dogs.

“Some dogs pull wheelchairs for people. Some dogs steady them to get up from places,” Susan said. “They interview people quite a bit before they come so they kind of know what the person really needs in a dog.”

The average wait time is two-and-a-half years to place a service dog.

“If they make it through the advanced training ... (the trainers) watch for certain things,” Peter said. “Say if they had a dog that is really good with voice commands and doesn’t need a lot of correction, that would go to someone who doesn’t have a lot of upper body strength.”

International Assistance Dog Week, which was created to recognize assistance dogs and raise awareness of the need for them, will be Aug. 5-11. To raise an assistance dog, a volunteer must be 18 years or older or have a co-volunteer that is. For more information, go to www.cci.org.