A message from our director:
LOVE HEELS Canine Partners was formed to meet the special needs of people whose lives are enhanced by teaming with a canine companion. As one of several trainers, we all agree it’s the most heartwarming job we've ever done. My sojourn into the world of service dogs began in the 1990s when, as a writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, I interviewed puppy raisers for a n
ational service organization. I was fascinated with the whole process, volunteered to raise one puppy and ended up raising five. The whole experience turned into a book, “LOVE HEELS.” Sci-Fi author Dean Koontz wrote the foreward to the book -- the reason it sold tens of thousands editions (proceeds help pay for service dog training). In 2005, I founded LOVE HEELS, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising, training and pairing service dogs with people. Our volunteers are not paid, all donations are used to purchase, feed and provide health care for our dogs. Never enough trained dogs, though, and that’s when our board came up with the idea of placing dogs with with health care professionals who work with children one-on-one. We now have five trained canines who work with a variety of specialists -- physical, occupational, speech and marriage and family therapists. The needs are huge, many of this country's military men and women could benefit from a canine partner. We have several ideas and will begin training both therapy and service dogs with this goal in mind during the coming weeks. I am grateful to the many professional trainers who helped me hone my skills. I have come to embrace the idea that the more you know, the more there is to know. Puppies and people – no two are the same. We have a fine group of beginning, intermediate and advanced trainers willing to work with new puppy raisers. We gratefully acknowledge the time and hard work provided by attorney Sebastian E. Lucier, at Morrison & Foerster. He spent long hours helping us acquire non-profit tax status. That means that any monies you give us can be deducted from your taxes. There are many worthy groups working to train and place service dogs and we think we are one of the best. If you agree, we need your support in time, talent and funds.
