Crystal a dog that’s good in deed

Published 6:00 am Saturday, November 27, 2004

The retriever is paired with Jenna Clark as helper and companion.

“Crystal, come! Crystal, come here!”

Jenna Clark gestures to her golden retriever who is busy, joyfully greeting visitors to her home.

On the third command, Crystal obediently pads to the side of Clark’s wheelchair and sits on command, then makes herself at home lying on the rug.

“Crystal still has to get used to my house and my voice,” Clark said. But even though the dog has only been with her since August, “It’s changed my life a lot. She has her playful moments and she makes me laugh.”

This past summer, the pair completed the Anacortes-based Summit Assistance Dogs program, which places dogs with people with disabilities to enable them to lead life more independently.

The nonprofit program, founded in 2000, trains service dogs to help people with mobility assistance; hearing dogs to alert deaf people to ringing phones and visitors; and therapy dogs that visit people who can’t have animals for companionship.

For Clark, who is always in her wheelchair and lacks strength and flexibility to reach for objects, Crystal helps with daily tasks like turning room lights on and off or tugging on a sleeve to help off a jacket. In an emergency, the dog can also bring a special phone to Clark to call for help.

But companionship is the most important thing Crystal provides.

“Not only do I have to get ready (to go out), but also get her ready, brush her. It makes my day a lot nicer,” Clark said. “I have someone with me all the time.”

The dog also makes going out more social. Though people who don’t know her may feel awkward approaching Clark on the street, she says, Crystal makes it less so.

“People more readily come up to me if I have her with me. Not only do most people love dogs, but most people think it’s cool she can do so much,” Clark said.

Dogs like Crystal – some rescued from shelters – are a double blessing. They go through 18 months of training with Summit Assistance Dogs, learning 60-80 commands by the end.

The last half of training is an integrated part of the curriculum for at-risk youths, with behavior and emotional challenges at Oak Harbor Middle School on Whidbey Island.

“We’re able to impact that needy (group), and at the same time train dogs for another population,” said Deb Hall of Summit Assistance Dogs.

The cost of training each dog paired with a person is high, $15,000-20,000 per dog according to Hall. Still, compared to the cost of a human caregiver, the cost of a dog that can supply 8-10 years of service is small.

And what a dog can provide that a person can’t is huge.

“The most important task the dog does, is the unconditional love and companionship regardless,” Hall said. “If you drop a pencil, you have to call another person and disrupt what they’re doing, (but) your dog does it for you because he loves to. (In return) you feed and pet it, the whole balance of self-esteem shifts.”

Recipients do not have to be able to afford a dog up front, they raise money to help defray the cost. Clark has raised about half of her $5,000 goal through selling Summit Assistance cards and bookmarks to friends and family.

“The community has been really great about helping me fund-raise,” she said.

Part of the cost comes from having to train three dogs to find one that passes the high standards.

“It’s really important that the animal is mellow, not excitable and not aggressive,” Hall said. “They must be almost perfect at a whole list of things and have the motivation and work ethic.”

The human partner must also pass a rigorous screening with an application, references, a background check, medical testimony as to disability, a home inspection and interviews.

“We’re tough on our applicants because there are so few dogs and so many people wanting (one),” Hall said. In 2001, there were 55 million disabled Americans, and nearly everyone wants a dog, but “less than 1 percent are getting one, which is almost nobody,” she said.

The average wait for a dog is 5-7 years; Clark is lucky getting a dog in just two years. After being matched, she went through training over five weeks to learn how to communicate with Crystal and understand her signals.

Having Crystal around has helped Clark go out more often and with more confidence, since the dog can alert people if she needs help.

“It’s fun to go around town with your dog, shopping. I used to go (out) by myself and always had a cell-phone,” Clark said. “In the past I have gotten stuck and had to wait until somebody came by, so Crystal makes me feel a lot safer.

“She is there for company, and she’s a lot of help. It’s nice that if you drop something you aren’t alone.”

*****

Helping paws

For more information about Summit Assistance Dogs, see www.summitdogs.org, call (360) 293-5609 or email info@summitdogs.org. To make a donation to the organization or toward the cost of Jenna Clark’s dog Crystal, send a check to Summit Assistance Dogs, 5458 W. Shore Rd., Anacortes, WA 98221, with a note to apply it towards Clark’s fund-raising.