[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to Disability Empowerment now season four. I'm your host, Keith Murphy de Gansini. Today I'm talking to Scott Mobley, the executive director of Ability Dogs of Arizona.
Scott, welcome to the show.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for having me on, Keith. I appreciate it. I'm happy to, happy to be here.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: So tell me about yourself, Scott, and what brought you to Arizona.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: All right. I, well, I married a somebody from Tucson, so that's my link to it.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: I love how you'd start with that.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll start at the end. That's how I got here.
I, I grew up in Oklahoma. I went to school in Indiana. I lived, I've lived around. After college I lived in Colorado and Michigan and D.C.
but a few years ago we were living in Denver and we just decided that we wanted to change. So I've always loved it here. We visited quite a bit, as you'd imagine over the years. And I actually talked my wife into moving here.
She had questions, but she ended up being really happy about, about the move. So we've really enjoyed our life here. And I was working remotely at the time and I've had the desire to work in my community. I like being involved in the community.
I'm really involved with my kids school and I've been looking for that opportunity and this position came up and I've always been a dog person. I love dogs.
You know, it's spending time with a dog can kind of transform a day for me. I have two of my own and so that was that got that, that was the first draw, I think the first thing that got me interested.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: So you ventured new position for you, a new name for, for the organization. It was founded 50 years ago thereabouts under the name Handy Dogs.
Like handicap.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Now when the organization was founded that.
And listeners can probably hear my dog bark. Peppa, who you'll someday meet, she's a total attention stealer.
She gets very fickle when I don't pay all the attention.
And she usually doesn't bark right outside the door. She has a doggie door, but she wants me to open. Oh yeah, yeah.
And so 50 years ago and she's coming back in. 50 years ago the organization was founded by Alma. I forget her lad's name.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Reeves.
Yeah.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: I would forget Animal Butcher, my lad's name if he wasn't attached to me.
So 50 years ago Alma founded Handy Dogs. And 50 years ago the language was a bit different.
The culture certainly was.
And so that is why.
And it's very impressive for a organization any organization to one, last that long, two, to keep the name that they've had for 50 years and three, and this is probably the most impressive to have the desire to change the name after 50 years. And I know that's something the organization for the year before we changed the name and trying to figure out, well, how do we change it without forsaking our history. I mean any organization, any brand to have that lack of a better term staying power in the community.
And it was a very bold choice for the organization.
Much of also been abused. Bold choice for you to come my dog. Did you Julie?
[00:06:44] Speaker A: I can't hear. I can't hear it. So it's okay.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Oh, okay. So. Well, we're talking about dogs.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: She knows.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: So talk about how it was joining the organization in the time of transition, rebirth, rebranding. You can use whatever, Tom. You won't bud. I mean first of all, I can't imagine what it is like to step in to a new job and then to step in to a new organization that is rebranding itself.
Forward thinking but still it's so talk about that first.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: I'll say that I think one something I was talking to someone about not that long ago is that just because Handy Dogs isn't a great. It wasn't the right name for us in 2024 doesn't mean it wasn't a good name for us in the 70s. Right? Yeah.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Oh no, no.
The. And the, the name you.
It sounded like a very strange name. I mean why would that name. Why would someone pick that name and why would that name have the stain power to lads.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: 50 years people were attached to it. People really, they got used to it. They liked it and it served the organization well. But I think when I first saw this job I thought everything this organization does is really interesting to me. It's really exciting.
It seemed like there's a. It was a place where there's a room for growth and change. And one of the first things I said to my wife was I wonder if there would be, you know, openness to changing the name.
And she said, well, you can't do that on day one. You'd have to wait a while. And I said, yeah, I know. And then I went into the interview and I saw the ability Dogs of Arizona on the wall and I saw, okay, they're already doing this. And so for me it was something that I thought, okay, I'm going to want to do this eventually just because I just know that the name sounded outdated, it was confusing and there are A few things about it that I thought it may be time to move on and I'd want to spend some time with it and see. But it was already happening and I'm not averse to change at all. I get excited by things like this. So coming into it, I thought, well, it might be funny that people see me starting and then two months later we change our name and think that it was, you know, I came in and changed it on the spot. And so I, you know, jokingly talked about that with some of our supporters that I kind of walked in and this thing was already in motion and I just executed it.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Very much was in motion. And I had the same desire as you did, although I'm not married. So no one timpered my desire.
I mentioned it at my interview for the board position and then I let it drop.
And then our board chair at the time asked me to write a essay. I actually skipped a date to be able to write the essay because, you know, it was that important.
And then the board was receptive, more receptive than I thought they would be. I expected them to kick me off the board because it was like, what.
How much goal do you actually have that you would think we would even entertain that idea?
But it took us a year. We really covered all, all of our age sins and we went through.
We look shocked. Like 200.
Yeah. I mean, it's incredible.
None of those things would have walked. And it's.
But I was very surprised that a organization this isn't five or ten years in, this is 50 years. And it's. So I'm glad we both had that same desire.
How are you finding the job?
[00:13:25] Speaker A: I love it, actually.
I, I mean, we started out kind of with a. With a bang. We had a couple of our. We. There's really four of us who work or three of us who work full time. And then our training manager is. Mo is mostly full time. She's there a lot. And the two people that are full time alongside me, one of them retired and one of them had to resign for health reasons. So we, we immediately was hiring two people.
And then right after that, I mean, literally a week after that, we changed our name.
So it was. There was a lot happening right away. But I like being busy. I like having a lot of things going. We got our new website. So we, you know, I was working closely with somebody to, to build a new website and I think that the, the entire team, after however many months it's been. It's been five months, I think, has really Gelled with the training staff, which has been there a long time. Most of them have been there many years.
It's a really cohesive group.
They kind of see dogs and see the world similarly and are really focused on the mission and are open to new things, new ideas and. And finding new ways to solve problems. I'm having a lot of fun. I like it a lot.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Trying to think of the next question, because you said a lot, and it's.
What's your experience with savage dogs, with its position?
[00:15:23] Speaker A: None. None at all. So I. I came in.
I have understanding.
I mean, I've had dogs my whole life, so I. I love dogs. I've learned how badly I've personally trained my dogs by being around our instructors. And I wish I could read you a few things.
My dog, kids.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Why you don't see me do the same thing? Because I would probably shrink back.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: No, it is. Yeah. I'll be in our. Our puppy classes, our dog training classes, service dog classes, and I'll see the things that our instructors do, and I'll think, oh, man, that would have been really helpful for my dog before she was seven. But my dogs are great. My dogs are great. They're just not. They're not service dogs. They're. They're pet. They're good pets.
Yeah, they. They. I probably could have helped them be a little bit better behaved around other dogs if I'd known our instructors then.
But. But, yeah, I didn't. I knew a lot. I knew quite a bit about dogs, but not as much as I thought I knew.
And I. My background, I studied. My master's is in counseling.
And so I'm.
I like the idea of being in a. In a. Working for an organization that.
That's meeting such a profound need and helping people.
And that's been something. That was something that I was looking for. I wanted to work for an organization that I felt proud to tell people about.
Friends, strangers, family, whoever.
And this met this, met that. And. And I. And I know. I knew coming in that what one thing I really liked about the program, I guess I should say, is that the way that it works creates a lot of community and opportunity for interaction. And I saw immediately some people who, you know, were in the program together and were friends, were close, had gotten close. And I know, you know, I knew that there's a loneliness epidemic in the general population, and it can be particularly profound for people with disabilities. And so I thought, wow, that's a really cool thing. They're not just training dogs to help people with These tasks which is amazing to see but they're also creating a community and helping people connect.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: We should think was a words a problem with the old name and words. A something that I wanted to check from is that Handy Dogs you can forget the time handy for a second.
Oh you did train dogs to help.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: People.
No no it it's no it.
And that's why I really, I really like the word ability in front of dog because it fostered that connection and it's very evident. And I've not yet seen a class but I hear about them log Cajun on the board. And I can safely say it's about fostering and training the human dog bond.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yep.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: That they are a team. They always have been. And it's not about training these dogs to be super helpers, super pets or whatever. Not handy. It's like one of the original names that because we were trying to link the new name to pat name and so handy dogs became Handy Dog which is just replacing the I with Y. Yeah but it it.
I mean you could put a dog. Our new logo could have been dog in hard hat Handy Dog.
That wouldn't have worked.
That should have been a no brainer.
That is what I think the new name dogs so beautifully it highlights that will will training the dogs to do abilities and tags across the spectrum of what they would be asked to do. But the dog's job cannot happen or function without the human.
And there's this synergy symbiotic nature of the human goggles bond which is. That's the important and always has been.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And the ability too is not just the dog's ability to. To perform tasks that make someone's life easier, but it's also the ability that, that the person gains to. To work with their dog, to train their dog there. It's, it's. It's amazing how much just being in one of those classes observing and our instructors will pull us into the. If you. You're never observing they always pull you into the class to. To fulfill some sort of function.
And but, but the, the ability is. Is with the. The person as well, not just the dog because they're learning how to. How to relate to a dog, how to train a dog, how to understand a dog, how to communicate to a dog, all of those things. And that's an incredibly empowering thing. And just for anyone listening who is as unfamiliar with the service dog training world as I was eight months ago, most of the time organizations like ours that were accredited by assistance dogs International and there's less than 100 of us in the country. And most of those programs they, the way it works is you have, you get on a waiting list for a dog and sometimes that can be a year, two years, it can be a while, and then there's a dog that's trained for you and then you come out and you work with that dog for a number of weeks and learn all its tasks. You get to know the dog, you form a connection and then, and then you take it home and that's, that works. That's a model that's proven, it's been around for a long time and it works for, for some people.
But ours is, ours is very different in that people are hands on. From day one, you're the one training your dog and our instructors are there with you, guiding you every step of the 12 to 18 month process. So it's just, it's a very different approach. There's only a few organizations that are accredited in the US like ours.
It can be a challenging thing. There's a lot that goes into it.
You're having people oftentimes bring their own dog so that it's not a room full of labs and golden retrievers all the time. So you have all kinds of breeds and everyone's learning. And so our instructors are not only skilled at working with dogs, they're really skilled at working with people. Several of our instructors are former teachers and you can see that when you're, when you see them in action.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Oh, I bet you can.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's, it's a. So our instructors amaze me because of that ability to, to not only train for these tasks that seem impossible, some of the things these dogs do, this. It's hard to even believe if. Until you're around it long enough and then you get used to it. But not only do they do that and they could do, they could work in a kennel, they could train these dogs themselves and deliver them. They could definitely do that. But they're also helping people learn skills that they can use, you know, throughout the life of that dog and throughout any other dog with any other dog that they have. It's an amazing thing to see. Really.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Yeah. It's all about fudge during the bond.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: From day one. Because that bond is so very critical.
It makes or breaks the function of age 7 dog.
When remote people think are here of savage dogs, they think likely so of senai dogs.
But ability dogs of Southern Arizona or of Arizona doesn't do that talk. I know why. But Talk about why that is.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: It. See, like Seeing Eye dogs or. Or, you know, dog. Those dogs like that are trained very differently, and I wish one of our instructors was here to talk more expertly than I can about it. But you can train a group of dogs to perform a bunch of different tasks.
And the tasks that we do, we have hearing assistance dogs and diabetic alert dogs. Dogs help with mobility, emotional support, seizure response. There's a bunch of things that we can train for. But for dogs that are helping guide dogs, they are trained.
The organizations that train guide dogs, for the most part, exclusively train guide dogs.
It's. It's a. They. They can't. You know, there. There are distraction dogs in our program.
You know, I don't want to speak out of turn and say too much because I don't fully, you know, understand that difference.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Well, I just said Seeing Eye dog instead of guide dog, so.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: Yeah, but, yeah, it's a. It's a. It's the. We do have people who call in and they're. They're. They're wanting support from a. From a guide dog. And we, we don't. That's. We don't train for that. But, you know, we're expanding what we do train for. And, and there are. There are needs that are popping up. Um, you know, my. I. I was reading the other day about dogs training for celiac and detecting, you know, gluten in foods. My daughter has celiac. And so I thought, well, that would be. You know, that's interesting. We haven't done that before, but it's something that, you know, potentially we could. There's just. There's a lot of things that you can train for. But I. But I do know that in. If you look at the ADI organizations like ours, those, the guide dogs are their own thing, and that those dogs. I don't. I want to say they're held to a higher standard, but it's a very different standard.
And there are dogs that make great service dogs, you know, puppies that are evaluated, that are evaluated to be suitable for service work, but not to be guide dogs. And so there have been cases where we've actually gotten dogs from organizations that, you know, where the puppy wasn't suitable for it to be a guide dog, but was to be a service dog for us.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Wow. Well, that's interesting.
So to talk more about the fascinating relationships that we.
Pun intended, fudge. With the.
Not only with the community, but with the dogs. And I mean, you mentioned earlier that you thought you knew a lot about dogs before you came.
And how had stepping into that been for you?
[00:30:29] Speaker A: It's. Well, I thought I knew more than I did.
I, I quickly learned that, that I started learning all the things I didn't know. But we, this as an organization, we don't. There's no like punitive training at all. It's all reward based which I've, I think is an incredible way to treat, to train a dog.
So that's kind of the fun like the foundation of our training. And we do general public pet classes and that's a way that we offset the costs of service dog training.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: And that's very important for multiple reasons. But we have to offset the cards somewhere. But those training are so valuable and it's not that we're diverting from what we do. Yeah, but it's.
You mentioned before, some dogs aren't suitable for be like my dog Peppa, who I just adore. But she's a rescue dog I got when she was labeled as 4. And so if you take that now she's 12, 13. And at the time I didn't know that fall was the cutoff age. But when you inherit a dog who has been rehomed several times and has trauma of her own, that's not a really good match for a dog. Now if you want to tell her that she would protect because she wants to follow me everywhere.
But some dogs are just happy being pets. Other dogs can be savage dogs. And.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: It'S, there's a lot that goes into it. So everybody, I mean most people who come with their dog to, to have it evaluated, I think most of them, if they're doing that, they feel pretty confident that their dog is suitable for service work.
But we're, we're particular about who we allow into the pro. What dogs we allow into the program. Just because we don't want anybody to get into this program and invest their time, energy, money and have their dog not certified. It's if we want that to be very, very rare.
So we have my, my dog.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: Good. That's very, very good. Because although I'm certainly not gonna name names, I assume they're all of the programs that don't have that angle of.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: There very well could be.
But that's a big part of our program is making sure that dogs who get in that our instructors, our lead instructor Pam in particular is certain that this dog has what it takes. Now does that mean that the dog 100% will pass? Not necessarily. We have to have 100% investment from the person wanting to train the Dog. They have to be really motivated to do this and, and do their work at home as well as with our instructors. But getting that, getting that, getting a dog into the program that qualifies is a huge step. And my dogs are like yours. They couldn't do service work. There's too many things. There's, I mean, there's, there's the temperament of the dog.
They, they need to be dog friendly and people friendly, but not too dog friendly. You want them over excited by every dog.
So there's, there's that and then depending on the task, there's size. So if a dog's needed for mobility, they can't, you know, a little terrier, you know, won't work and they need it. You'll need a big dog. So sometimes that, that plays a factor, making sure that's the right dog. The age too, because our program can take 18 months. We, we don't. Dogs that are 4 years old or older generally aren't aligned to the program just because you want them to have, you want people who go through this process to have a dog for as long as possible yet, and their dog retires and they have to get it. They have to go through this process again.
So, you know, we do find that labs and golden retrievers are best suited for the program. But there's amazing dogs of all breeds that you'll see in our training room.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean, it's like, had I gotten her a bit earlier, but with her trauma.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: Of course. If you, when you meet her, you'll be like this in town. She is.
And like she's a kill. Yeah, but it's.
Yeah. And so, okay, five, ten years out.
Where do you hope the organization goes from here? And we.
Up to 60 years.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: Yeah, we, there's, there's a lot of need. And we're finding that as we're doing more work in the community at events and more outreach, we're finding that interest in our program is increasing.
Web traffic's going up. People's emailing and contact, filling out our contact forms is going up.
People have a lot of questions about service dogs and how they can, you know, how they can apply and how they can get involved.
We, we subsidize very heavily.
The, the, the work that we do. Getting a service dog out of pocket can be anywhere from 15 to $30,000 or more. And at our atability dogs, it's, it ranges from free to 5, $6,000 for the whole process.
But, but there are people who have serious needs who you Know, struggle to. To pay that. And so one of the things I would like to be able to do is to, to expand, continue to expand our scholarship program and our financial aid so that we can make this a real possibility for everyone who needs one.
So that's, I mean, that's a big one. We've started doing work in Phoenix in the past several years, and we are seeing more interest from Phoenix. And so expanding what we do up there, I think is important, but there's a lot of growth here in Tucson as well. So, you know, I, I don't think by any means, we've, We've maxed out our capacity. We can, we can do more than. Than than we are right now. And then we're. We're building the foundation to do that.
And a lot of the work that we've been doing over the summer this year and ongoing is to be ready for that kind of expansion. And a lot of it's fundraising, a lot of it. You know, we're digitizing all of our records, which hadn't been done yet. So that's taking place. Just getting ready for. To.
To handle. Have the capacity for that kind of expansion. Because you don't want to, you don't want to go too fast if you don't. If you don't have the framework in place.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: No, certainly not.
What, for people who may not know what's the main differences between savage dogs, emotional support animals, psychiatric support dogs.
I mean, we've all seen the news over the past few years.
People will try to take almost anything on the plane nowadays, which I shouldn't laugh at. Good. It's ridiculous.
But there's a lot of, I don't want to say misinformation, but lack of information on the differences between things that sound similar terms that sound similar but aren't similar at all.
Talk more about how to differentiate those terms.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: So emotional support animals, or ESAs, to get a, to get an emotional support animal, you get a note from your doctor that you need the support of a dog or an animal.
And then, you know, one helpful thing about that is that you can, you know, give that note to your landlord. Let's say you have an apartment and that has a no dog policy. You can potentially have a dog there or, or not pay a, you know, that. The, the monthly fee for a dog.
But really there's not a lot of.
There aren't really standards for, for that.
It's just, it's really just having that note, having a doctor say that you, you need that support. So for, for ability dogs where we, you know, I would, I would like to say that surface animals are entirely different because they are here. But I mean, there are, you can go get a service dog in a short matter of time or other places around here.
There's not, there's. I think it, the difference is that with the buildie, dogs were accredited. Being accredited by an international governing body, they keep all of these organizations in check.
They, they give people the assurance that the way that they're being treated, the way dogs are being treated is ethical and that we're, that we're following the science, the science that, and, and that they're holding us to, to, to high standards. And I think that makes a really big difference.
So, yeah, when you go around town, you'll see, you know, service animal vests and you'll see some wide varying behaviors on those dogs.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: I would urge anybody who needs a service dog to look for organizations that are accredited just because it's, it can. If you're investing your time, if you're investing your, your finances, you want to do it the right way and also you just want to make sure that your dog is getting, you know, handled and treated the, in an appropriate way. So it's a lot of work. We're going through re accreditation. We do that every five years. But next year we're going through reaccreditation a year again. And it's a lot. It's a, it's a big undertaking, but it's, but it's absolutely worth it.
The network that we, that we're part of learning from other organizations like ours and then just the assurance that all of the people who come through our program have that we're not just doing things the way that we want, we're doing things the way that have been proven to be, you know, the best for both humans and dogs is really, really important.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: So stay on this point. Why do you think that there is so much confusion?
And you, you brought up vets and I mean, we've all seen male people who just buy vets for their dogs and try to pat them off. And that's dangerous for the human and the dog.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: It is.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Not to mention it's unethical. But why do you think that we have this problem of confusing terminology and trying to pass all animals add something that they're not.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: There's not a lot of regulation.
Basically the only thing you can ask if somebody comes in with a service dog is what are their three tasks?
And that's it.
So unless that changes I'm not sure what else can be done, to be honest.
I would hope that better education of the public about the, like what you said, the safety of the person and the dog and about, you know, the value of accreditation, I think would be. Is really important.
But, yeah, you're absolutely right. There's. There's not a lot of oversight of this.
People can buy a vest and put it on their dog and then. And take it, you know, wherever they want. We have people who contact us, you know, from organ, from companies who want to know, who are frustrated by this, and we try to explain to them what we do and the difference there and make sure that they know that that's not representative of all service dogs. There's a lot of organizations who do this the right way.
You know, they. There are, you know, you can't fly internationally now to. To many countries without an ADI trained dog. One of those countries is Australia. And we get calls from people saying, hey, I can't get into Australia.
Can you certify my dog for me?
And we invite them to potentially join our program and do at least six months of training to reach certification.
We haven't had anybody take any of them, take us up on that offer yet, but there are airlines and countries are taking steps to kind of curb the, the airline, the. The flights with service dogs, like you're saying. But that's more international than domestic. Yeah, and that's help. That's helpful.
But it is, you know, I think as an organization that puts a lot of work into how we train our dogs and, and do it the right way. You know, I, I'll be honest, it is a little frustrating to see people skirt those, all that work and put a vest on their dog. I think it's.
It doesn't reflect well on the industry.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: And you did say it's a little frustrating. I'll put back on that and say it's mad.
[00:49:01] Speaker A: It is, it is.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: People all like, oh, Pepper would look cute in a vat. It's like, I respect too much to do that.
And I mean, if I do that, I'm taking away something from someone else or I'm furthering the stereotype.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:49:36] Speaker B: Well, you're disabled, so it might be okay. Yeah, no, no, it's not okay. Regardless if you have a disability or not.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Pepper would love to follow me everywhere. She would love to follow me to ability dogs or to go out drinking with.
We'll talk about that off the air.
That's a joke.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: But, yeah, you're right.
[00:50:23] Speaker B: That's the, the cost is too great.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: Too.
And so, yeah, it's, it's mad mean. Reading all those news stories and I'm like, what are people doing?
I mean, it, it's just Emotional peacock, emotional chicken, emotional turkey, emotional salamander. It's.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
And, and we, I mean, what we can do is do this the right way and then let people know about it and make sure that people. No, but so many people don't. Until they talk to, until they talk to us. And they're amazed. They're like, oh, wow. Like, they're. When we talk about ADI and all the standards that we operate by, they're like, I mean, it's. People don't. People, you know, still don't know and.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: Wild, wild west of Savage dogs.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: I know, I know.
And you know, there's certain things that we can't, we just have no control over right now and we can't do anything about. But what we can do is continue to do this the right way and promote it. Promote it, promote it and let people know. And I just, I will tell you. Yeah. Like I said, every time we have these conversations, people get that look like, oh, wow, you know, I've been duped or I've seen these dogs. And I, I was, I thought that this was, this industry was different than it is.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:52:25] Speaker A: They thought that all the. Either they thought sometimes they'll think that all service dog. It's all, you know, quack. It's all, you know, fake or they'll think that they're all real sometimes. And, and then, and so it's, it's one way or the other. And, and, and this is just, you know, I, it's, it's a great feeling to talk to them about what we do and the differences and kind of see that look come across their face of, of understanding. And I just, we just have to keep doing that more and find ways to, to advocate for, for, for our, the people we serve and for our organization.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: So you talked, you talked about needs.
What does Ability Dogs of Arizona need?
What are some of the organizational needs that we need at an organization to continue to do the incredible important, incredibly important work that we do?
[00:53:42] Speaker A: There are, there are several. I mean, there are several needs. We're, as a non profit, we're always, I mean, fundraising is always, you know, front and center. We have to, like, I was talking about building up those, you know, the financial aid program and providing free services whenever we can to people who need it. That's a big need.
We also just need and we're working really hard on building connections in the, in the community in Arizona, making sure that we are creating a pipeline for people who need our services.
And whether that's working with veterans organizations, rehabilitation organizations, community orgs, making sure that people know who we are and what we do. And the difference between us and other places where you can get a service dog I think is critical. And so we've spent a lot of energy over the past months forging those relationships and tabling at events and going and doing presentations to groups. I think that's really a significant need as well. And then our third one, I'd say would be fosters. Like Puppy Fosters.
We have volunteer. We have great volunteers who, who help us out and do a lot of help in our office and in the training room.
But the. There are volunteer puppy raisers. We don't have quite as many of those as we need.
It takes a certain type of person to work with a puppy for nine months and then give it up for several months and then give it up. It's a tough thing to do and it's not everybody's. I don't know if I could do it, to be honest with you.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: If I'm being real, I don't either. Regardless of Pepper, the bond gets made.
[00:55:46] Speaker A: And so we have several who are really, really good.
But the standard that our instructors have for these fosters is very high. You have to be dedicated to that puppy, to training, to go through all the trainings to be consistent with it because it's going to be a service dog.
And so building a bigger network of fosters is a. Is a big need because we get, we have relationships with a couple of breeders in the state of Arizona who are really good, who are, you know, donating dog puppies from litters to us, which is amazing. And then we're part of. It's called IBC International Breeding Cooperative. That's through our ABI accreditation. And we get puppies from breeders around the country as well.
And those are great. But there's times where we have to say no because we don't have anybody who can foster the dog.
[00:56:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:50] Speaker A: So that's a big need.
[00:56:53] Speaker B: And so in case there are any, any inspiring advocates legending who want to join in this line of incredible luck, what would be some action steps you would give them to get involved in the walk.
[00:57:36] Speaker A: To get involved with ability dogs in particular or just in the service dog world?
[00:57:41] Speaker B: Just in the service dog world in particular because we, we've talked a lot about the misconceptions and how people will assume that either will cracks or that old servants dogs are really.
And there had to be a Tourette media in and so.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: I think that Visiting Assistance Dogs International, their website is a great place to start. You can learn about the differences and why it matters and it's a great resource to learn about those differences. I think that's a great place to start. If you're going to advocate for service dog training being done the right way, that's a great resource.
Also you can reach out to us. We have people who are happy to talk about this stuff.
We're abilitydogzaz.org and whether it's me or other people in our office, we love talking about this kind of stuff and it's really important to us. So anybody who cares about this, who wants to learn more wants to advocate for service for service dogs. If you're One of the things they have on the ADI website is a map of organizations worldwide that are accredited. And so if you're in, you know, LA or Minneapolis or D.C. or wherever, you can see what organizations in your area are accredited. And I can tell you if they're an accredited organization, they've done the work. It's. There's a lot that goes into it and you can be confident that they're, they're doing things the right way. There's lots of places to train dogs. There's lots of organizations that are not accredited because there's a lot that goes into it and you have to adjust the way that you operate in order to earn accreditation. And I think so. I would say if you want to find service dog training places in your geographical area, that's a great place to start and then reach out to them, find out from them what they need.
I would love to see all of the ADI organizations raised and I think that helps all of us.
[01:00:32] Speaker B: I think, I like to think that both inspiring advocates and advocates, but also those who have yet to discover or embrace their own disabilities legitimately watch this show.
I'm not naive enough to think that each groups and groups within those groups take away the same things from every episode. So as my guess, what do you hope that advocates with disabilities take away from everything we've talked about and what do you hope that those who have yet to embrace or discover take away from this episode?
[01:01:49] Speaker A: I hope that people understand the, the great number of things that dogs can do to improve our lives.
They improve everyone's. I think a dog can improve everyone's life. But the tasks that service dogs can, can perform to make life easier for people with disabilities are incredible.
So even if you're not a dog person, I, I hope that those people do exist. They do exist. They're out there. They're out there.
[01:02:29] Speaker B: It boggles my mind back.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: But even if you're not a dog person, I, I encourage you to explore this as an option and like I said, find an organization that's accredited and talk to them about how, how you can, you can receive a. Get a service dog and hopefully train that dog yourself, because I do think that's an important element to it. I also just hope people, you know, walk away knowing the difference between. That there's a, there's a, A, there's a big difference between an accredited organization, one that's not. And that just because you're getting a service dog doesn't mean that that dog is trained properly. And a lot of these things that this dog is trained to do can be life or death. And so you want to make sure.
[01:03:25] Speaker B: Exactly.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: You want to make sure if you're, if you have, if you have diabetes, for instance, you want to make sure that that dog is trained adequately and it's going to alert you at the appropriate time.
Because that's not a, that's, that's not a guarantee. And it's just when that much is on the line, you want to make sure your dog's trained by people who are looking out for you and looking out for your dog.
[01:03:55] Speaker B: And I should have asked this earlier.
What are some of your favorite things about dogs? And as we end this interview, what has the job brought?
How has the job enhanced your understanding not just of the savage dog industry, but of dogs in general and most importantly, the bond that dogs share with humans.
[01:04:52] Speaker A: I, I think one big thing that I've taken away is, you know, one of our instructors said to me that dogs have all, all these ability, all these t. This tasking, all these abilities. They're all in the dog. Those, those are in the dog from, from day one.
[01:05:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:05:11] Speaker A: Those things need to be nurtured and brought out. So it's less about training a dog to do A, B and C than it is to identify those things and then encourage them and draw those out of the dog. And they said that we train things out of our dogs abilities out of our dogs to make them into what we want them to be. And I think that was a really beautiful way to, to, to, to describe it. I, with dogs in particular, what I love about them is just the, that, that unconditional, unconditional love. Yeah. It's a. It's a pretty powerful thing to, you know, have a creature that always wants to see you no matter how your day has been. They're always excited every single time. You know, Pepper's like that when. Whenever you get home. Yeah, it's a. It's a. It's an amazing thing. And I. I've just learned to appreciate dogs more than I did, I think, through this job, and to recognize the value in that. Dogs want to please and they want to. They want to be rewarded for their good behavior. And I don't know. I think that my relationships with my dogs is strengthened by all the things I've picked up through osmosis, through our instructors, and through seeing service dogs. It's just. It's every time I have somebody come in to visit and witness a service dog class. And we had several people in there on Saturday, this past Saturday.
Every time they're in there, they're. They're floored. They. Every single one of them. And it doesn't matter. Two of them that were there on Saturday were dog breeders and they train dogs. They. They breed dogs. They. That's their whole life. And they were in there and they were just amazed at what they saw.
Wow. And it's. It's. It's the coolest thing I ever. With our donors and with our supporters and. And our. And anybody. I always. Board members. I just asked, you know, coming in. You should definitely come in, Keith. Just to be in the room and see it all happening is just.
It's hard to put into words. It really is.
[01:07:36] Speaker B: Finally, Scott, if people, listeners, viewers want to know more about Ability Dogs of Arizona or accreditation, or to reach out to you with a question, what is the best way to do that?
[01:08:02] Speaker A: The best way to do that is to visit our website, which is Ability. Ability Dogs a dot org.
You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook, which is Ability Dogs. A.
Just to keep up with what we're doing on the website. You'll see contact forms that you can fill out and. And reach out to us. Phone number people can call to learn more about what we do. That's the best way.
[01:08:33] Speaker B: Words. God. Thank you so much for coming on. I hope you will come back again and tell us more about the incredible work that Ability Dogs of Arizona does. And it's no wonder that first Handy Dogs and now Ability Dogs, we just changed the name, not anything else about the organization.
It is no wonder why organization has lasted 30 years as an incredible important part of this community and huge te.
More hopefully under your leadership.
[01:09:44] Speaker A: Thanks. Thanks a lot, Keith. I've never, you know, I've never been on a podcast before, so this is my first. So thanks for that opportunity. I would, yeah, I'd love to come back and, and talk and I'll know more then. And we're evolving and changing, so there's going to be new things to talk about.
I would, I would love to. So, yeah, thanks again for the opportunity.
[01:10:15] Speaker B: You have been listening to Disability Empowerment. Now I would like to thank my guests. You are listener and the Disability Empowerment team that made this episode possible.
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