Everyone knows by now that specially trained dogs have been helping the blind, or handicapped for years. Apparently the late Charles Shultz helped one such training center get started. From Yahoo/KPIX:
While there's no argument that Jeannie is an extraordinary animal, she wasn't born that way. She was tutored and trained at a facility that's become the final legacy of one of the Bay Area's most beloved figures.Canine Companions for Independence is a sprawling, state of the art facility that sits on twelve acres of land in Santa Rosa donated by late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Shultz. Here, handlers work with specially selected labs and goldens for hours a day -- although not every dog will make the cut.
"We train four different types of dogs here," said Ken Kirsh. "Hearing dogs, service dogs, skilled companion dogs, and facility dogs."
The work is serious business. In case of hearing dogs, the animals alert their disabled owners to everything from ringing telephones to doorbells to smoke alarms. Others will work with patients with severely disabled patients like eight-year-old Noah Habib of Mountain View who communicates with a special computer.
I'd say the folks who work with and train these dogs have that too. And so did Mr. Shultz, who made one such facility possible...