LOCAL MOTHER-DAUGHTER TEAM RAISES ASSISTANCE DOGS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

East County News Service

May 8, 2016 (Oceanside) -- Marilyn Fullen and her daughter Brittany have been volunteering together for over a decade. Together, they raise future assistance dogs for Canine Companions for Independence. Canine Companions is a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships. Their shared hobby has brought them closer while providing a valuable community service.

“We started volunteering together when Brittany was 16 years old,” recalls Marilyn. “Brittany wanted to do a project linking her interest in helping people with disabilities with her love of dogs. Raising our first Canine Companions puppy earned Brittany her Girl Scout Gold Award.”

Eleven years and nine puppies later, Marilyn and Brittany have a stronger relationship, better communication skills and a close community of friends who volunteer, as well. “We were paired with another mother/daughter team to help us through our first puppy,” says Marilyn. “We are still friends with them!”

As volunteer puppy raisers, Marilyn and Brittany provide lots of age-appropriate socialization opportunities, basic training and a loving home for puppies for about 14 to 16 months. After that, the puppies train for an additional six months with Canine Companions’ professional instructors before getting matched with people with disabilities. It is by no means a casual commitment, but it is rewarding.

“I would definitely recommend volunteering to other mothers and daughters,” says Marilyn. “However, with puppy raising you both have to be committed or it will not work! Decide what the expectations are for both the child and parent. Brittany was in high school when we started, which meant that the puppy needed to be with me when she was at school. However, puppy raising can really build bonds between the mom and daughter!”

Prior to volunteering, Marilyn and Brittany’s relationship was strained. “Puppy raising brought us together in such a special way,” says Marilyn. “It is a long way up to Canine Companions’ Oceanside campus for puppy obedience class, and on those rides we actually started talking about the puppies and then about other things. Brittany was a much better puppy handler than I was, but she was very patient with me while I was learning. We learned how to communicate with each other, built patience and even got to the point where we could give each other constructive criticism. I really think that puppy raising saved our relationship and made it stronger!”

Today, Marilyn works from her home doing medical record review and Brittany is a nurse at Sharp Memorial Hospital. They still value their mother/daughter time volunteering, and in addition to puppy class they give presentations on Canine Companions, man outreach booths and enjoy outings with other puppy raisers. They have high hopes for their current puppy, Taz, who is now one-year-old. However, regardless of what Taz may give to someone with a disability in the future, he and the eight other Canine Companions puppies have already given much to the Fullens.

About Canine Companions for Independence

Canine Companions for Independence provides highly trained assistance dogs to children and adults with disabilities. Established in 1975, Canine Companions has six training centers across the country, including CA, FL, OH, NY and TX. Canine Companions is recognized worldwide for the excellence of its dogs, and the quality and longevity of the matches it makes between dogs and people. There is no charge for the dog, its training and ongoing follow-up services. For more information, call 1-800-572-BARK or visit www.cci.org.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.