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At Mount Holly, it's a Pawsable Dream
With the help of the children at The Possible Dream Foundation, members of the SDA showed dog owners in attendance how dogs can be effectively trained to provide service to handicapped individuals and law enforcement. In addition, SDA members educated those attending the dog event about how proper training can simply make a dog a better pet or provide protection for a family. At Mt. Holly Kennels, owner and certified dog trainer Camille Geraldi and dog trainer Bill Finks, work with the service dogs as part of the therapy and training of the handicapped children Geraldi has adopted. Founder of the non-profit organization The Possible Dream, Geraldi has adopted many severely handicapped children suffering from Down Syndrome and other severe medical conditions.
In 1997, Geraldi and her husband moved from Miami, Fla., to Hayesville where they opened Mt. Holly Kennels and began working with their adopted children and the service dogs. The dogs are trained by Geraldi and Finks with the help of the children for obedience, personal protection, search and rescue and as companion and service dogs for the disabled. The children, as well as handicapped adults living with Geraldi at Mt. Holly, care for the dogs daily by feeding and grooming the animals. The children also work with the young dogs aiding in their socialization and basic obedience training. The children and the dogs both benefit from the time spent together. Geraldi believes that the handicapped individuals she cares for can build self esteem and responsibility through working with the dogs. And at the same time train a dog that will provide a service to an individual in need.
Local fire department members were quick to praise the efforts of Mt. Holly Kennels, and more importantly the children at Possible Dream, where the two search and rescue dogs working for the Clay County Fire and Rescue were trained. Lee Meeks, owner of Shrek the search and rescue dog donated to the fire and rescue squad by Mt. Holly, said the children are very special and the work they do with the dogs very impressive. Meeks was full of praise for these children, who he said are amazing. Fellow fire and rescue workers Stanley Robinson and John Ashe joined Meeks in praise of the children and the work that they are doing with the dogs they are helping to raise. Robinson, who also owns a search and rescue dog donated by Mt. Holly, said he came out Saturday and brought his dog mainly for the kids.
The two dogs raised and trained at Mt. Holly Farms and now a part of Clay County Fire and Rescue Squad have already been put to work. Radar, owned by Robinson, has been on several searches and participated in a FEMA training exercise recently. Meeks said as the area continues to attract tourists and hikers having well-trained search and rescue dogs in this area will be vitally important. Meeks and Robinson said they will continue to work with SDA and Mt. Holly Kennels to further train their dogs.
Dogs can be trained by SDA for family and personal protection, military and police use, and as assist dogs to handicapped individuals. Early training, like the training provided by Mt. Holly Kennels, he said, is very important to getting a good service dog. The foundation that is laid when a dog is young is very important to someone looking for a service dog. Much of the training that a service dog receives is within the first two years of its' life. By that time, Vradenburgh commented, you can tell whether or not a dog will be cut out for service.
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