Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services (PAALS)
    
Late Breaking News!!!
A Few Dogs Available for Immediate Placement for Facility or Skilled Home Companion Work
 Roberta Paper Clips
PAALS currently has four trained dogs who are ready to begin their service careers. We need to place these dogs immediately in order to free up room for the new puppies that are on the way.
  
If you know a teacher, therapist, minister, etc. who might want to integrate a dog into their work or someone in a wheelchair or who has autism that only needs a dog at home please have them contact us ASAP at (803) 788-7063.
 

PAALS facility dogs can help by working alongside:

  • Occupational therapists
  • Physical therapists
  • Recreational therapists
  • Counselors
  • Teachers
  • Nurses
  • Ministers
  • Social Workers

Applications for a Facility Dog and a Skilled Home Companion Dog can be downloaded

here
May 2013
In This Issue
Four Name Sponsors Needed
Interested in Week 3 of Camp?
Welcome Rose & Patricia
Well Done Maureen
Congratulations Ann Marie
Zoobot Program Concludes
Say Hello To Tally
Three More Name Sponsorships Still Available
 Tally (puppy)
This is "Tally", the newest addition to PAALS family. She is a Golden Retriever and is just over 2 months old.
  
Tally is just the first of several new puppies that will be arriving at PAALS over the next month. While some of them already have name sponsors, there will be at least four puppies who will need a name sponsor.
  
If you are interested in being a  name sponsor for one of these puppies, please contact Rose Walker at (803) 788-7063 or email her at rwalker@paals.org.
Week 1 and 2 of Doggone Days of Summer Camp are Full

 

Both week 1 and week 2 of Camp have been filled up. However, there is still a possibility we may have a third week (July 8 - 12).

 

If you have a camper who would like to attend Camp, during a potential week 3 please let us know. If there is enough demand, we will open up this week.

 

For more information contact Jennifer Rogers at jrogers@paals.org or (803) 788-7063. You can also get additional information and register for Camp on PAALS' website.

About PAALS

PAALS is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to enriching and empowering children and adults with physical disabilities and social needs by training service animals and providing animal assisted educational and recreational activities.

Looking for a Few Good Women (and Men)!

 

All of our volunteers are special, but there is one group that is truly central to our mission: our weekend fosters.

 

Weekend fosters are community members who open their homes every weekend to a PAALS puppy or dog in training. They go through an orientation and then a weekend long training program and commit two Fridays a month to training with their dogs. We also ask our foster families to commit to a once a month outing where they can socialize our dogs out in public where most dogs don't go. These are places like malls, restaurants, stadiums, theaters, etc. 

 

In order to earn the ability to take a PAALS puppy or dog in training out to non-dog places without a trainer they must also be volunteering for a minimum of five months and pass a test with their foster dog.

 

We have such dedicated volunteers that many of these people and a group of our occasional pupsitters are now attending a once a week foster class that is teaching them about reading dog language and the science behind training.

 

With five more puppies heading our way by the end of May we are looking for a few good men (and women) to start our next generation of weekend foster warriors. Our next class is Friday through Sunday, May 31st to June 2nd.

 

If you don't have time to be a full time weekend foster, but would still like to help raise our new puppies, you should consider becoming a pupsitter. Pupsitters backstop the regular weekend fosters by occasionally taking a puppy or dog in training for a weekend when the regular foster is unavailable (travel, illness, etc.). Our next pupsitter class is Friday (May 31st) from 4:30 to 6:00 PM, Saturday (June 1st) from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Sunday (June 2nd) from 1:00 to 6:00 PM.

 

Please contact us at (803) 788-7063 if you would like to sign up for either of these classes...and feel free to bring a pack of friends!!!!

 

Yours in Service,

Jen Rogers

Please Welcome Rose and Patricia to PAALS Staff
Two New Staff Members at PAALS
 
Rose WalkerLong time volunteers Rose Walker (left) and Patricia Moser (right) recently accepted positions as part-time PAALS staff members.
 
 Rose will be performing many administrative functions for PAALS as well as helping staff the office at HealthSouth. She can be reached at rwalker@paals.org.
 Patricia Moser & Hope
Patricia will be working at the PAALS house performing a wide variety of animal husbandry tasks and assisting with maintaining the PAALS facility. She can be reached at pmoser@paals.org.
 
Welcome Patricia and Rose. Bow Wow!

Well Done Maureen!
Achieves Full Instructor Status
 Maureen Leary
After a two year apprenticeship with PAALS, Maureen has now achieved Full Instructor status. Maureen put in many, many hours of working with Jen to learn the appropriate training techniques for different behaviors, dogs and situations.
 
Next time you see Maureen, give her a big PAALS shoutout for this accomplishment. WOOF! WOOF!
Congratulations Ann Marie
Earns Public Access Certification
Ann Marie & Lady Girl 
Ann Marie is the most recent PAALS volunteer to earn Public Access Certification. This certification means Ann Marie can now take PAALS dogs in training out into public places without a PAALS trainer in attendance.
  
Achieving Public Access Certification requires a significant investment of time and effort in training.
  
Congratulations to Ann Marie on this achievement.
Zoobots Program Concludes
First of Kind Program Ends this Month

  

Zoobot 2013

 

The last session of the Zoobot after school program at Longleaf Middle School is this month. This program has been successful in introducing students and staff at Longleaf to the capabilities of service dogs and how they improve the quality of life for their owner. Zoobots also helped participants understand the value of community service and the importance of being a participant, not just an observer.

 

We thank the staff and administration at Longleaf for helping put this program into place and supporting it throughout the year.

 

PAALS is looking to replicate Zoobots at other Midlands schools for the 2013-2014 academic year


Quotation of the Month
 
"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours."
Dale Carnegie