RAISE A PUPPY CHANGE A LIFE

In the early 1990s, on a plane ride home from a Caribbean vacation, Carolyn Hrach, now a resident of Masonic Village at Sewickley, was flipping through an airline magazine. She read about a service organization that uses volunteers to raise puppies in their homes until the dogs are old enough to be trained as service dogs.

“For reasons that are not clear to me, even today, I decided that I wanted to raise a puppy for the organization, so as soon as I got home, I called to volunteer,” she said.

After learning the service organization only recruited people from California, she began a two-year quest to find an organization that would accept her offer to raise a puppy. Eventually, the name Canine Companions for Independence came to her attention.

Founded in 1975, Canine Companions is a national non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities – from adults, children, veterans and working professionals – by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.

“The organization has six regions, so when you volunteer, you volunteer at the nearest region,” she said. “For me, it was in Columbus, Ohio.”

Carolyn joined the organization in 1993 as a puppy raiser. She had no experience with puppies or training them. All she had was a set of printed instructions to guide her. As a puppy raiser, she was tasked with teaching the dog a list of 30 commands, so he would be ready to be a service dog one day. She paid for the food and vet bills and was responsible for socializing the dog.

Carolyn’s first puppy was a Golden Retriever named Weller. She signed a contract that told her when to return the puppy. “I returned him, not very well-trained but with high hopes of him becoming a service dog, only to be told a couple of weeks later that he had ‘bad hips’ and would be released from the program. I drove over to pick him up, and he lived the rest of his life as my pampered pet.”

After several dogs were deemed unfit to become service dogs, her fourth puppy, Kodiak, graduated from the program. He was placed with Nicholas, a little boy who had Friedreich’s Ataxia, which affects the nervous system and causes movement problems. Several other puppies followed; some were released for various reasons, while others graduated.

Her 15th puppy, Hawkeye, lived with Carolyn at Masonic Village at Sewickley. She returned him to the North Central Region training center last September. Professional trainers are now teaching him the skills he needs to become a service dog. His graduation is scheduled for May 2021.

“He may meet his forever partner and graduate as a service dog,” she said. “I’m still waiting to hear.”

During her time with the organization, Carolyn has raised 15 puppies for the North Central Region of Canine Companions. Even beyond her commitment as a member of the national Board of Directors, Carolyn is a motivated and enthusiastic volunteer.

She speaks about the organization to Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, General Federation of Women’s Clubs and many others. She’s a member of the Pittsburgh volunteer group of Canine Companions. She also joined the Heritage Society, which means Canine Companions is in her estate plan.

Carolyn first learned about Masonic Village through the daughter of a friend who worked in Dining Services. Carolyn and her husband, Paul, were living in a suburb in a northern part of Allegheny County before they moved to Masonic Village in July 2019. “When I first moved here, I met with Eric Gross, executive director, and showed him and others videos about what Canine Companions does,” she said. “I asked permission to bring Hawkeye into the clubhouse because I needed to socialize him. They asked me to do a presentation to educate the residents, so they knew why I was raising the puppy and needed to have him in the building. I’ve been so grateful to the Masonic Village administration.

“I volunteered to raise a puppy to change a life, but the life that has been changed is mine,” Carolyn said.