What a wonderful facility with the most awesome staff. A great company with an even greater mission...with the most (com)passionate and skilled dog training team. Thank you for all you do. Your services and care impact so many. read more

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This organization is a wonderful non profit! My personal experience was amazing! I was lucky enough to capture one of the service dogs and the huge impact the dog has for the client! No one can put a value on one of these amazing dogs! These dogs make huge impacts in peoples lives! read more

Canine Companions - One of the service dogs - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Santa Rosa, California

We will be traveling up north next week. Part of our itinerary is to visit the headquarters for Canine Companions. To that end, I called (not realizing it was lunchtime), and and James Dern answered the phone. He was so helpful in answering my questions, and following up a few days later with more information for us. Impressive customer service! I love this organization almost as much as I love their dogs! :o) read more

My choice for gifting from my Investment Plan. The highly trained dogs make life to the impaired, a big step toward a more efficient and effective daily life. There website explains how it al happens. I hope to attend graduation this year. read more

Date: 1/11/2016 Time: 9:49 AM 50° Cloudy My monthly group tour with my buddies from the Mastick Senior Center was at the Canine Companions for Independence, followed with a lunch pit stop at the Warm Puppy Cafe and a docent-led tour of the Charles M Schultz Museum. The Canine Companions for Independence is an organization in a beautiful campus-like setting in Santa Rosa. Two docents, Ariel and Jill, answer any questions we might have about the dogs, the facility and show us what these trained dogs are capable of doing. Both docents are in wheelchairs and are accompanied by their trusted four-legged companions, Dolly and Willemina. Ariel and Dolly showed our group the three methods of retrieving items. These methods are done with voice command - step, visit or lap. The training of the dogs starts when they are 18 months old. Training lasts about six months. According to Jill who gave our group the walking tour, there are six such campuses throughout the US, including this one. So much information was mentioned that I can only remember the location of four of the campuses - New York; Ohio; Orlando, FL; and Irving, TX. There are trainers training either golden retrievers and/or labrador retrievers for children, adults, veterans with disabilities. They even train dogs for the hearing impaired, DA's office and police officers. However, they do not train guard dogs. Canine Companions for Independence also have numerous volunteers feeding, bathing, grooming, and walking the dogs. Gittinger Hall is the building where training of the dogs takes place. Other buildings house a feeding station, the bathing/grooming station and a veterinary clinic. There is a puppy play area for new incoming golden retriever puppies. The feeding station has volunteers cleaning the stainless steel bowls, stacks of bagged dog food and kennels on the shelving units. The bathing/grooming station has a large steel tub for bathing dog, warm kennel cage to dry off the dog and an area to the side of the door to towel dry the dog. The veterinary clinic had fenced off cubicles for employee and dog. Our group also had the good fortune of seeing a litter of golden retrievers dropped off. They were absolutely adorable. That concluded our tour. However, before leaving, I went back to the Administration Building to purchase a heavy duty canvas tote bag and a yellow shopping bag. They also had other items (golden retrievers plushies, pens, pencils, umbrellas, doggie treat bags) for purchasing. read more

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Do you wonder why all the dogs look sad? Maybe Handmaid's Tale for dogs? We raised a puppy and the program is very oppressive. I've raised many other Labs that were happy and healthy. These were terminally sad. I think the program should be reviewed and hopefully terminated. Uninvolved founder is not able to lead and current management is very bad. Stand up for dogs. For the few handicapped it serves, many dogs are subject to oppression. read more

Please be considerate while training your dogs in businesses. You should let customers who are shopping use the elevator first. If your dog does it's business in the elevator you should also clean it up. So rude read more

My daughter received her assistance dog from CCI in March 2001 and I can easily say that she is the best thing that has ever happened to our family. CCI has continued to provide support to our family as graduates over the past 8 years. They are the best at what they do, that is breeding, raising, and training assistance dogs and matching them with individuals with disabilities. read more

Canine Companions - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Santa Rosa, California

What a great program! If you want to do something for someone else, this a fabulous way to do it. We raised two dogs for this program. One is helping a familiy with an Autistic child and the other is helping a def woman. If you want to raise a puppy or learn more about the program, visit cci.org read more

As a conscripted puppy raiser (my partner volunteered), I was extremely hesitant. I've never really been a dog person, though I've had a few, but my SO is definitely a pack member and she loves training. I figured she would fall in love with any puppy we got and it would be hard to give it up. And it was. For me. CCI helps people, gives them assistance dogs (no, really, they GIVE them the dogs) that are very well-trained.That training starts at the puppy raiser's house. We got Gilda when she was not quite 8 weeks old and I knew we were in trouble. It only took about 3 days for Gilda and I to bond and I was her human. I was a little bit crushed when, after 16 months of this dog being my best friend, we had to fly down to Santa Rosa to turn her in. And the turn-in process.... Oh, it was hard. Just...hard. I love that dog. She's well-trained and sweet and beautiful. But we saw some of the dogs who were graduating and going to live with their new people.That helped. What an amazing thing! Those dogs can do anything and they help, so much, people who have limitations of whatever kind. There were some issues, like getting Gilda before we got the "Before You Receive Your Puppy" packet, and communications with the main campus were spotty at best but most things went alright. And now I've helped raise an assistance dog. I probably wouldn't do it again because my little heart got broken but it was such a good experience having Gilda. read more

My husband and I spent over a week there and I'm not sure what Darlene is talking about honestly. The dogs were happy, played really well together in the fenced area, tails wagging the whole time... On one of our field trips we saw other dogs in training and they all seemed really happy in the store. It is not just a few handicap folks who benefit from these wonderful dogs... Hundreds do if not more. I am one of those and I cannot believe how lucky I am. I wish I could send a movie of what Tally is doing right now, rolling around in the sun in our front yard with our other dog. Yet she went with me to Target yesterday where I dropped two items, one credit card, and she help me pick them up so I would not lose my balance. She brings my walker to me if I accidentally don't put the brakes on and it rolls away. She helps me up from the couch when I just don't have the strength to do it. I can take her anywhere because of her excellent manners. And that dog is always wagging her tail and happy. I hope the readers Of these reviews realize how incredibly helpful these dogs are to folks who need them... read more