International Association of
Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP)

Keynote Speaker: Yvonne Peters

A leading disability rights lawyer in Canada and partnered with her fifth guide dog from the Seeing Eye, Yvonne has been involved in precedent setting Supreme Court of Canada cases and hosted many workshops on the duty of employers and service providers to accommodate persons with disabilities. In addition to her busy practice, she serves as legal advisor to the Council of Canadians With Disabilities, (a national umbrella cross disability advocacy organization). She has worked as an advocate on assistance dog issues in Canada and we look forward to hearing about her experiences.

The Attack – Coping strategies Before, During & After

Presenter: Carrie Skym, Graduate Services Dept., Guide Dogs for the Blind

What can you do if your guide, hearing or service dog suddenly becomes the target of another dog’s interference or aggression? This workshop will provide practical advice stemming from a collaborative project between Guide Dog Users Inc. and the staff of Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB).

Our presenter, Carrie Skym, began her career in GDB’s training department in 1996 and in 2000, became a California state licensed Guide Dog Mobility Instructor. As Carrie worked her way to being a Master Instructor in the Training Department, her professional goals shifted from an emphasis on dog training to a desire to be more involved in client services. In Nov. of 2009, Carrie accepted the position of Pacific Northwest Field Manager for Guide Dogs for the Blind in their Graduate Services Department.

Training Assistance Dogs for Mental Illness - The New Frontier

Presenter: Jane Miller, LSW, trainer, IAABC Consultant, author

Jane Miller, a Licensed Independent Social Worker, incorporated animal assisted therapy (AAT) dogs into her practice as a psychotherapist many years ago. She became one of the early pioneers in training service dogs for clients with psychiatric disabilities, exploring ways such dogs might assist individuals struggling to cope with certain symptoms caused by different kinds of mental illness. She recently published a ground breaking book with case histories and extensive guidance to help those with psychiatric disabilities to increase their chances of success if considering incorporating a service dog into their treatment plan. The book is titled “Healing Companions - Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives.” Jane will discuss some of the innovative tasks she has developed for clients over the years and share her insights and concerns about this new frontier which has received so much publicity in recent months.

Jane’s lifelong passion for healing has emphasized the human /animal bond connection, culminating in certifications by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) as a Consultant for Service and Therapy Animals, and as a Canine Massotherapist. She practices Reike on her two therapy dogs daily and teaches her Psychotherapy clients stress reducing techniques for their service dogs.

Air Travel with Service Animals….Issues, News and Clarifications

Presenter: Kathleen Blank Riether, U. S. Department of Transportation

Kathleen is currently a senior trial attorney in the Department’s General Counsel’s Office on Aviation Proceedings and Enforcement, (Enforcement Office) and remains deeply involved in service animal issues due to her extensive background. While with the National Council on Disability, among many other duties, she was project lead on two consumer working groups in which IAADP participated, one in 2002 on an update of the DOT’s service animal Guidance document, the other on developing guidelines for airlines and airports on providing service animal relief areas at airports. While with the Transportation Screening Administration, she collaborated in improving policies for screening passengers with disabilities, in particular seeking out and then implementing recommendations from IAADP and other consumer groups on the treatment of service animal teams (Do’s & Don’ts) by security personnel when going through airport security checkpoints. Since taking a job with the DOT, Kathleen has been a member of the working group responsible for reviewing public comments on the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) rulemaking and the project lead on guidance documents interpreting the ACAA and its implementing regulation (14 CFR Part 382), including the U.K. service animal guidance, its related supplement, and Frequently Asked Questions on Part 382.

We are looking forward to an update from this official on a number of issues and want to give our audience the opportunity to ask questions and receive clarification on areas of interest or concern.

Your Family said WHAT?

Facilitator: Kim Samco, Counseling Specialist

Many assistance dog partners encounter a variety of problems within their family circle or social circle, some of which pose quite a dilemma. For example, you are invited to a wedding but the bride’s family asks you to leave your new assistance dog at home. This workshop will provide an opportunity for members of the audience to seek advice and share their views about how to handle such problems.

Our facilitator, Kim Samco, has been practicing in the psychology field since 1981. For 11 years she specialized in Adolescents in the public mental health system in an inner city. For the past 13 years she has been the Counseling Specialist with Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. Her duties include providing support to the 2,200 human/Guide Dog teams in North America, providing support to those training with a new Guide Dog and providing mental health training and consultation to the staff at Guide Dogs for the Blind. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband, 3 dogs, cat, sometime cows and various ducks. She is currently working with her third Guide Dog, Wyla.

Courthouse Dogs

Presenter: Ellen O’Neill-Stephens with her son, Sean and his service dog, Jeeter.

Ellen is a senior deputy prosecuting attorney in Seattle, Washington; a pioneer in the use of dogs to provide emotional support in the criminal justice system; and the founder of Courthouse Dogs.  Since 2003, she has promoted the use of highly trained facility dogs from programs belonging to Assistance Dogs International to provide comfort to children and adults who are victims or witnesses of crimes and to support juveniles and adults in mental health and drug courts. Ellen and Celeste Walsen, DVM, who is the executive director of Courthouse Dogs, have been asked to assist prosecutor’s offices, child advocacy centers and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and abroad in establishing successful courthouse dog programs in their jurisdictions. Ellen’s severely disabled son Sean and his CCI service dog Jeeter were the inspiration for the Courthouse Dogs program and they will be joining Ellen as she educates us about Sean’s journey and this rapidly growing new development in the assistance dog field.

Sharing Tasks, Equipment, New Products, Useful ideas!

Presenter: the Audience

Share new tasks, interesting tasks, “how to” information, experimental work, equipment you like, equipment innovations or devices, useful products or ideas, access tools or other assistance dog related information. Don’t assume everyone is familiar with things you find to be helpful, for usually, just the opposite is true! (if unsure, ask Joan Froling, the Moderator, at iaadp@aol.com or 586-826-3938.) You can bring a video, DVD, slides, a power point presentation or enlarge a photo if unable to transport an item to the conference or demo the task on site with a canine assistant. Just let us know about your audio visual needs ahead of time. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other. We hope you’ll participate!

IAADP Meeting for Assistance Dog Partners

Announcements. Update on new /ongoing advocacy work. Benefits. Future endeavors. If you have something you’d like us to put on the agenda for discussion, please contact IAADP Chairperson, Joan Froling, at no later than August 1, 2010, at (586) 826-3938, to enable us to finalize the conference packet and have it converted to alternative formats.

*** We will also have a luncheon Banquet and other amenities. Hope you can join us!