Nicole Meadowcroft of Custom Canines meets with Optimist Club
Optimist Club Welcomes Nicole Meadowcroft of Custom Canines
The Sauk Prairie Optimist speaker on October 23rd was Nicole Meadowcroft of Custom Canines, a service dog academy. Accompanied by two canines, Reiker and Whisper and friend and volunteer Leann Vick, the program was explained. Meadowcroft started this business partly because she has a vision disability and also knew that guide dogs were badly needed and requested by many people with disabilities. Custom Canines is a completely volunteer organization which places service dogs with people of disabilities ranging from those with PTSD and autism to first responders. It takes two years to train a dog; it costs $25,000 to train a dog to placement. Guide dogs for the blind take the longest to train. All dogs being trained stay with volunteers. The dogs are placed for free. Meadowcraft said it takes 6-8 months for the dog and its owner to become a team. Right now there are 50 dogs in training, 137 dog/owner teams have been connected since January of 2011, and there are 150 applications in waiting for those who would like a service dog. For more information please go to their website custom https://www.customcanines.org .
The Sauk Prairie Optimist Club meets every Wednesday, the first Wednesday at noon at the Blue Spoon Café and the remaining Wednesdays at 7 a.m. at the Blue Spoon Café. Everyone Welcome!
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