PRESIDENT & CEO
LETTER FROM BRYAN WILLIAMS
There is a difficult time in my career that I look back upon, in retrospect, with gratitude. Only a few years after finding my passion to work in the nonprofit field, serving in a fundraising role, I experienced the financial crisis that began in 2007.
Organizations saw significant declines in revenue and as a result, reduced staff, slashed salaries, and cut programmatic services. There were difficult and necessary decisions made by leadership teams that had significant, long-term implications. Years later, as the financial crisis subsided, organizations looked back at the impact of those decisions and important lessons came to light. One of the lessons was to retain a long-term view when making short term decisions.
When the covid crisis began, I recalled those lessons and encouraged DBL’s Board and leadership to rely on the foresight of those who built DBL’s financial reserves.
As we seem to be exiting the crisis, I’m happy to report that not only has Dogs for Better Lives survived but we have thrived, continuing to innovate and grow.
The reason that this is possible is because we continually focus on our mission, vision, why, and values. There are two things that remain the focus of Dogs for Better Lives: The people we serve through the amazing dogs we train and constant improvement, bettering ourselves daily. Because this focus was established early, it has allowed us to thrive in good times and bad.
PLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS
LANEY
Sue Grant in Sparks, NV was placed with Laney this August. Laney came to us from Guide Dogs for the Blind and was released from their program due to her sensitivity to the guide dog harness. Sue is a retired firefighter and was stationed during her tenure at Lake Tahoe. Sue has experienced a greater sense of security and companionship since receiving Laney, and they are relishing in their new life as a team.
Willow
Autism Assistance Dog Willow was placed with successor AAD client Parker in Medford, OR. She was very receptive to him and he showed great capabilities handling her in public. They quickly learned their tasks together and he easily put her through her obedience paces.
Sesame
Hearing Assistance Dog Sesame was placed with Marilee in Yarmouth, MA. Marilee and Sesame enjoy taking walks down to the beach and watching the boats come and go. Sesame will be working door knock, oven timer, alarm clock and telephone for Marilee and did well in public.
FOLLOW UPS
Ravioli
Laurel W. and Hearing Assistance Dog Ravioli from Washington. Ravi (as he is now known) alerts Laurel to many sounds including the oven timer, the smoke alarm, her husband calling her name, her alarm clock, the microwave, and the alarm on the fridge if it is left open.
Tucker
Brenda and Tucker from Oregon. Tucker is a Facility Dog who works with kids in a mental health setting. He helps break the ice so that the clients are more at ease.
Rylee
Mary Anne and Hearing Assistance Dog Rylee from Croton on Hudson, NY have been a team since 2015. Rylee was rescued from Home Again Humane Society in The Dalles, OR.
DBL NEWS
DBL’s Marketing Tail is Wagging the Dog and Going Green in a Big Way
By HARVEY POTTS, Staff
Dogs for Better Lives (DBL) launched its breeding program in 2015 to augment its rescue program, with a focus on acquiring more dogs to assist more qualified people waiting for an Assistance Dog.
As the breeding program has grown, so has the need for volunteer puppy raisers to raise and train these puppies during their first 12-14 months, before coming back to DBL for 4-6 months of professional training prior to placement with a client.
Until recently, sharing this critical need for more puppy raisers has relied primarily on social media and word-of-mouth. Though, that slowly started to change in late 2020, with the use of digital billboards primarily along major west coast highways. Going digital has also reduced the cost as there is no banner or poster to create, minimal set-up, and there is more flexibility with moving the advertisement around to other digital boards and going green in the process.
Lamar Advertising Company provided digital billboard space in Eugene and Salem (OR) beginning in Fall 2020 and several months later Meadows Outdoor followed with providing space in Klamath (OR), and Puyallup, WA.
100 Best Green Workplaces
We’re honored to share that DBL was recognized by Oregon Business magazine as a top “100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon 2021.” “When the staff at DBL created our organizational values, there was an overwhelming consensus to include focusing on the environment as one of our values. By focusing on being an environmentally friendly organization, we will not only protect our world for generations to come but also better steward the resources given to us.” - Emily Minah, Green Team Member
This also speaks to DBL’s culture of being a value driven organization, and Value #6 in particular. “It is the organization’s duty to do our best to lessen our impact on the environment and the strain we put on finite resources.”
SURVIVING TO THRIVING AMIDST COVID
By HARVEY POTTS, Staff
As news broke in China about the Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) in the early days of 2020 it seemed so distant and inconsequential to those in America. Then COVID cases began to appear elsewhere including in the United States, and Americans began to take more notice.
In February 2020, the leadership team at Dogs for Better Lives (DBL) also took notice, as many businesses and nonprofits became further concerned and more cases were showing up locally, including in Oregon.
Abiding by the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) guidelines and following protocols set out by the Oregon Governor, DBL continued to establish protocols and procedures to move the organization forward. In March 2020 DBL established a dedicated COVID-19 page on the website, as a resource to staff, clients, volunteers, and the public.
“External outreach and communications with the public is very limited, though I have been able to give presentations and participate in community meetings via conference video,” stated regional field representative Laura Encinas. “It certainly has been difficult but we at DBL will persevere.”
Laura continued to work with her local puppy raisers in central California, though only through virtual calls and outdoor classes where they can socially distance. Animal shelters are open by appointment only, restrict time allotted to evaluate dogs, and many have a limited number of dogs available. The short supply of dogs at the shelters is primarily due to more people working remote, now having more time, therefore adopting dogs in mass numbers throughout the COVID pandemic.
SHELTER DOG PILOT PROGRAM
HELPING EVERY DOG SUCCEED
By EMILY MINAH, Staff
Dogs for Better Lives strongly believes in attaining dogs from shelters and rescues. Since our beginning in 1977, we have been acquiring dogs from shelters and humane societies to train as Assistance Dogs.
While there have been many changes to our organization over the decades, our commitment to attaining dogs from shelter and rescues has not been one of them – it has and will always remain a core part of our mission. However, in recent years, we began to see a shift in the number of shelter and rescue dogs completing their training and becoming Assistance Dogs. While there was always a small percentage of dogs that did not graduate, the percentage of dogs we brought in for training that “career changed” and were adopted out as pet dogs has begun to significantly increase.
BOARD SPOTLIGHT
To Write is to Wander
By DR. DANIELLE ROSE, Client/Board
When I decided to write something about my hearing dogs for the traditional children’s literature market, I didn’t think it would take 10 years. Granted, my writing colleagues at the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators all said it would take an average of 7 years. But still, what’s the problem?
My author friend Kathleen suggested I write an article for Highlights High Five Children’s Magazine. I submitted a non-fiction story about my first hearing dog, Chuckie with bracketed info about picture visuals of his alerts and a bio blurb and picture of both of us. Around that time Harvey Potts of Dogs for Better Lives asked me about becoming a board member of Dogs for Better Lives. This, I really wanted to do so I put the writing on the back burner and became a board member.
A year later, I received an email from High Five division of Highlights! They wanted to purchase my article with a few changes. Hooray! I agreed happily, received my check and contract and –I never heard anything.
BOARD NEWS
Welcoming Our New Members
Lisa Robinson – Joined October 2020
Lisa is the Vice President, Human Resources for the Construction Sector software business that is part of the global company, Trimble Inc. In her role, Lisa and her HR team support 3,000 professionals across 20 countries. Prior to Trimble, Lisa worked for more than 15 years as an HR executive in the financial services industry and professional services. “Lisa brings a highly desired skillset and background from human resources that will immediately befit our efforts to take this national Assistance Dog organization to the next level.” - Board Chairman David Hollingsworth.
CarrieJo Hoelzel – Joined April 2021
CarrieJo Hoelzel was born and raised in Minnesota and currently resides in Vancouver, WA, with her husband and fur family. CarrieJo’s career in the hearing healthcare industry provided an opportunity for her to relocate to the Pacific Northwest, where she and her family enjoy the amazing beauty of the Columbia River Gorge, mountains, and towering pines all around us. As a lover of all animals, it was only later in life, that she realized the importance of the animal/human connection; CarrieJo trained her dog Shep to receive his Canine Good Citizen (CGC), allowing them to visit Memory Care Units. Seeing the joy, love, and connection a dog can make with humans has forever changed CarrieJo.
Henry Kisor – Joined April 2021
Henry is a Dogs for Better Lives client, having been partnered with Hearing Assistance Dog Trooper since 2015, and is an advocate for rescue dogs as well as people with disabilities. That’s one reason why he chose to apply to DBL (then Dogs for the Deaf) for an Assistance Dog. Another is DBL’s reliable nationwide reputation as an Assistance Dogs International affiliated nonprofit. At 80, Henry is a retired journalist and still active author, having written ten books, including Traveling with Service Animals: By Air, Road, Rail and Ship Across North America, with Christine Goodier, also a DBL client. They are at work on a new post-pandemic edition of that book.
FOSTER PUPPY PROGRAM
Foster Puppies in California
By LAURA ENCINAS, Staff
Over the past year Dogs for Better Lives has acquired a considerable amount of new puppy raisers. We currently have 15 active puppy raisers throughout WA, OR, and CA. There are also 6 people on our wait list to receive a puppy. Of the 15, 4 of the raisers are currently in CA with 1 person on the CA wait list.
JOY
Joy is an 8-month-old yellow Lab that we acquired through a breeding cooperative. She is residing in Merced, CA with the Moreno family. Jennifer is the main handler. She is a high school student that has been participating in online classes for school. Her family thought it would be great to give back during this time when they are at home more.
ALBUS
Albus is a 7-month-old Golden Doodle that we acquired through a generous donation from 4E Kennels in Nevada. This kennel and owner have been featured on some national morning news programs. Their pups have been temperament tested and evaluated as potential assistance dogs. He is residing in Fresno, CA with Hanna. Hanna is also a high school student participating in online classes at school.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Dana Wheeler
dogsforbetterlives.org CANINEL ISTENER SPRING 2021 Page 20 I worked as an Apprentice Assistance Dog Trainer for what was known as Dogs for the Deaf back in 2010 for about 1 and half years. I left to work a different career path, not realizing how much I would miss training dogs. When I got asked to come back to continue my education and get my certification, I didn’t hesitate. I was so ecstatic; they would even ask me back! This organization has changed so much during my leave, from a business name change to new staffing. Now with the name changed to Dogs for Better Lives we can serve more people around our country.
It feels great to say I work with dogs for a living; who wouldn’t? DBL is like a family to me. They take great care of the dogs, staff, clients, and donors. It’s really nice to work for an organization that takes their staff into consideration. Not many people can say they are happy in their job, nor can they brag about how great they are treated.
CLIENT’S CORNER
Return Trip to Normal
By HENRY KISOR, Client/Board Member
Thirteen months into the Great Lockdown at Three Crowns Park, the retirement community in Evanston, Illinois, where Debby, Trooper and I live, we’re emerging fully vaccinated and taking modest steps back into the outside world.
Isolation hasn’t been as dispiriting for me as it has for some other residents, thanks largely to Trooper. As an amiable companion he (along with Debby) has kept my head above the floods of loneliness that so often wash over seniors who must stay inside.
Naturally, as a deaf person who uses speech and lipreading, I’ve had a tough time interacting with masked people. Hearing folks find it difficult to cope with a deaf person who can’t understand them through their masks, and their natural reaction is to avoid awkward encounters.
But when Trooper’s with me, such barriers melt away. In the year and a half we have been residents at Three Crowns, Trooper has become not only my service animal but everyone else’s therapy dog.
YOUNG PROFESIONALS BOARD
By STACIE BIANCO, YPB Board Member
As Dogs for Better Lives continues its mission of enhancing lives through Assistance Dog partnerships with people across the nation, we also aim to inspire the next generation of leaders to be involved in DBL’s future. In 2020, Dogs for Better Lives launched its first Young Professionals Board (YPB) in the Pacific Northwest, a group of diverse professionals with a passion for dogs and giving back to the community.
The Young Professionals Board is excited to help serve the community and contribute to the mission and future of Dogs for Better Lives. This dedicated group will bring their individual perspectives and skillsets spanning diverse experience as Assistance Dog puppy raisers, marketing professionals, advertising executives, project managers, designers, entrepreneurs, business owners, and social workers, all with a passion for helping create life-changing partnerships between dogs and people.
Introducing the Young Professionals Board - Pacific Northwest:
Corey Wise | Chair, YPB Member, & DBL Puppy Raiser
Meghan Heims | Vice Chair & YPB Member
Stacie Bianco | Treasurer & YPB Member
Jordan Caballero | Secretary & YPB Member
Matty Walsh | YPB Member
Sara Torelli | YPB Member