On March 5th, 2013, I had a meeting at CCI.'s campus in Santa Rosa, CA. I'll gloss over the details, but at the end of the meeting it was decided that it's finally time for me to start the process to hopefully be matched with a new canine partner from CCI.! The journey begins...and I'm ECSTATIC! Successor Service Dog!
For those readers who aren't as familiar with Canine Companions for Independence, I will do my best to explain the terms I use throughout this blog. I'm also very happy to answer questions, but please always remember that answers to many questions can be found at www.cci.org. So, in this initial post, I will mention that Canine Companions for Independence is usually abbreviated to C.C.I. in casual conversation and when talking to other people somehow involved with Canine Companions for Independence. I also want to mention that CCI has five "campuses" (AKA Training Centers) spread across the United States. In no particular order: CCI Southeast in Orlando, FL, CCI Northeast in Medford, NY, CCI North Central in Deleware, OH, CCI Southwest in Oceanside, CA and CCI Northwest in Santa Rosa, CA. CCI's National headquarters shares campus space at the Northwest campus in Santa Rosa, CA. Typically, clients go through their application process, attend team training, and are placed with a dog all through the campus closest to their home. In my case, this means Northwest region. (I should note that ALL of CCI's Hearing Dogs are trained and placed out of CCI Northwest.) I will also go ahead and define successor service dog. I was partnered with a CCI Service Dog from 1999 until my partner passed away in 2011. That means that this dog will be a successor to my first dog. (The term "replacement dog" is never used. My next dog cannot "replace" my first dog. He or she will have a different personality and our partnership will be different from the one I had with my first CCI service dog. My relationship with dog #2 will be special, unique and wonderful. Thus, the term successor is used.)
Many of those reading who are familiar with CCI are current or former volunteers of one type or another. I adore CCI volunteers...some of the kindest, selfless, patient, AMAZING human beings I have had the privilege to know, all of them. CCI is only able to provide life-changing, highly trained dogs (for free, no less) because of the incredible individuals who donate incredible amounts of time and money. I cannot even begin to express my thankfulness to CCI's volunteers. I can, however, try to give you folks a glimpse into what future graduates go through, start all the way through what I hope will be an end - when I graduate with my next dog. CCI can terminate a client's application process at any point. Someone might even go all the way through, be invited to Team Training, then leave without a dog. I'm optimistic that things will go smoothly for me. Hopefully, readers will be able to virtually come along with me via this blog through the application process, try to wait patiently with me for an invite to Team Training, get as much of a blow-by-blow of 'sanitized' Team Training as I have the energy to give (and that I can share without giving away any information that CCI wants to keep quiet until matches are finalized...things during Team Training are very hush-hush for very good reasons!) - right through graduation day and my early days home with my new partner!
So, I have the first step of the application process in hand and I'll talk more about it next blog!
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