The Life of a Certified Service and Therapy Dog

By Ambassador Doc-Barker

My name is Ambassador Doc-Barker. I’m a 2 year old Chocolate Labrador Retriever and Team CANIDAE Member.  I am a service dog certified through Canine Support Teams, Inc., a therapy dog registered thru Delta Society®, and a Canine Ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America through the Wishes Forever® endowment campaign, as well as my family’s loving pet.  I have eaten CANIDAE dog food my whole life! I started out eating the All Life Stages (ALS) formula, and for the past year I have eaten Grain Free pureSEA, and I love them both. 

As a balance and mobility service dog, I help my mama do many things. I pick up items she has dropped like her car keys, money, credit cards, etc. I help her by pulling her wheel chair or scooter and a grocery cart, which is a huge assistance to mama. I also help her get up from chairs and up and down stairs and inclines. Because I am a therapy dog, my fur needs to be soft, shiny and petable for all whom I visit, and my CANIDAE food keeps it that way.

As a canine ambassador, I travel around the country accompanied by my family, bringing awareness about service and therapy dogs and the important jobs they do, and also bringing awareness about a children’s charity through a canine connection. Ambassador Barker, my mentor, was mamas first service and therapy dog as well as a canine ambassador. He ate CANIDAE All Life Stages (ALS) too!

CANIDAE Special Achiever Dog Makes Wish Come True!

By Julia Williams

In 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted their first wish, to a 7-year-old boy undergoing treatment for leukemia. As of this writing, the renowned charity has granted more than 205,000 wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Recently, an extraordinary therapy dog in the CANIDAE Special Achievers program helped the foundation add one more memorable wish to that impressive number.

Doc-Barker is a two-year-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever who is a registered therapy dog through Delta Society, an AKC Canine Good Citizen, and a mobility service dog for his owner, Sherry Buchbinder. Doc-Barker is also a canine ambassador for Wishes Forever, an endowment campaign through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Doc-Barker’s duties as canine ambassador include promoting the Wishes Forever endowment campaign at fundraising and community events, visiting “wish” children in hospitals, being a Grand Marshall or “celebrity guest” at pet expos, and promoting the positive impact of therapy and service dogs. Oh yes – and Doc-Barker is also a wish granter!

Sherry is a volunteer, speaker and wish granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Sherry’s 13-year-old nephew, Grant, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in late 2008. What Grant wanted more than anything in the world was to hold the leash of a specially trained dog like Doc-Barker. As much as she wanted to say “yes” to his request, Sherry regrettably had to say no, because being responsible for a registered service and therapy dog like Doc-Barker requires training and a title.