Among several delightful dogs and pleasant pooches, one caught the eye of a man looking to bring one home to Edmond.
Lee Parker ultimately chose Farley, a friendly white Labrador retriever, from among the service dogs he interacted with at a special center in Texas. The pair was brought together by Canine Companions, a national organization providing service dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities, and facility dogs to professionals working in health care, criminal justice and educational settings.
“I will say that when I was with Farley for less than 30 minutes — it was good and I knew,” Lee said.
That first meeting was five years ago. Lee, 54, said he and Farley have become a team, over the years.
Courtney Craig, a Canine Companions spokeswoman, said Lee and Farley are just one of the pairings that have taken place through the nonprofit. She said the organization has placed more than 8,000 service and facility dogs since 1975, with 400 placed each year nationwide.
Craig wasn’t shocked that Parker and his furry companion hit it off so quickly.
“We hear that a lot, that they can kind of just click with the dog,” she said.
Canine Companion trainers often envision which clients may match with a certain dog, but they don’t match them until they can meet in person.
“They really want to make sure that, yes, it looks great on paper, but do they work as well in real life as they do on paper,” Craig said. “They watch them those first couple of days with multiple dogs, and find that perfect match.”
On any given day, 7-year-old Farley is close to Lee, whether the entrepreneur is by himself or with his wife, Melody. The couple own Katydids and Grasshoppers, a toy store in Edmond.
The Parkers said Farley came into their lives after Lee suffered injuries in a 2012 car accident. Lee said he was a power wheelchair user for two years after the wreck.
His wife said she realized that a service dog might help him. She did some research and found Canine Companions. The couple went through the application process, and before long, Farley became a helpful addition to their family.
Melody said having Farley around eased her concerns about her husband.
“After Lee’s accident, if he would try to go somewhere by himself, I would worry, but with Farley, I don’t worry anymore,” she said.
Lee said he felt better with Farley in tow, as well. He said one of the main issues Farley helps with is retrieving items that Lee drops and can’t easily reach to pick up.
He said one of the other benefits of having Farley is that people don’t focus on what he can’t do due to his injuries, but what he and his canine pal can do together.
Lee said this experience was a pleasant and welcome surprise.
“I did not see that happening until it happened,” he said.
Whether they are in church or a restaurant, people are often surprised and then delighted about Farley’s demeanor. Lee said you can almost hear people’s sighs of relief when they realize that Farley has been trained on how to behave without any disruption, particularly at eating establishments.
“I get two main compliments — number one, how beautiful and handsome he is, and then number two, how well behaved he is,” Lee said. “It makes people happy.”
Lee said he’s grateful to Canine Companions for Farley, particularly because the specially trained dog was provided to him for free. He said he’s been told that about $50,000 in training and care is invested into each dog.
Craig said the complimentary aspect of Canine Companions is one of the reasons it is special. She said dogs are provided free of charge to clients, making the canines attainable for most people.
“There is an application process, but that is just to make sure that our organization is the right fit for them in general, and that we have a dog that’s going to be able to fit their needs,” she said.
The only cost, Craig said, is what the clients pay to get to a regional training center for one to two weeks of training in person. She is based at the organization’s South Central regional training center in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where Lee and Farley were matched. The center opened in 2015 and is one of several such centers across the country.
Craig said it takes about two years for each of the nonprofit’s dogs to go through the entire training process. Canine Companions breeds its own dogs at the organization’s Santa Rose, California, headquarters, helping ensure the number and quality of dogs required to fit the clients’ needs.
Groups of volunteers support the breeding program, Craig said, and when the puppies are about 8 weeks old, they get shipped out across the country to other volunteers who are puppy raisers.
Craig said the puppy raisers work with the dogs for about 18 months, potty-training them and making sure they know how to behave in a house setting.
“We kind of guide them through some of the basic training and socialization that puppies need, teaching them a set of about 30 basic skills,” she said.
“We’re asking our puppy raisers to take them to restaurants, take them to grocery stores, take them to work with them, assuming that businesses are OK with that, but it is a significant piece of the puzzle for these dogs, and it really starts the foundation for their final phase of training, which happens when they’re about a year and a half old,” she said.
Puppy raisers eventually turn the dogs in to one of the training centers, where professional training starts, building on the foundation of what the puppy raisers taught.
The dogs learn advanced skills such as picking up dropped items, opening doors, turning on and off lights, then trainers determine what dog would best fit and support certain clients, such as a veterans with PTSD, or someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.
Each training team assesses the clients in need of canine companions to see what they are looking for in a dog, what their lifestyle is like and other factors.
Craig said those involved with the program take pride in being able to match clients like Lee with a companion like Farley.
“We were founded in 1975, so we’re coming up on our 50 year anniversary next year, which is really exciting,” she said.
To make a donation, volunteer, apply for a canine companion or for more information about Canine Companions, go to https://canine.org/.
