Bonnie Bergin
Encyclopedia
Bonita M. Bergin Ed. D. (born 1945 in Port Angeles, Washington
United States
) is President of the Bergin University of Canine Studies. According to the publisher Random House
, she is the originator of the "service dog", dogs that are trained to help people with mobility limitations.
two years after she was born. She was raised in the small northern California town of Cloverdale
.
Bonnie attended her first year of College at San Jose State University
, then transferred to Humboldt State University
in Arcata
, California
. There she met her husband Jim Bergin, who in 1968 took a teaching position that moved the two of them back to Sonoma County.
With no formal knowledge of dog training, she tried to convince others of the validity of this vision. Many dog organizations and dog trainers with whom she shared her idea all said it would not work NS would be bad both for the dogs and for people with disabilities. She left teaching to work in a dog kennel for $2 an hour to learn about dogs and dog breeds after which she began the experiment that has resulted in the internationally acclaimed “service dog” concept.
” (CCI) to represent the independence this loving partner would make available to a person with disabilities. Behaviors that Kerry and others wanted the dog to perform, like “wait,” “pull,” “tug” and “better hurry” became new commands.
Continuing to experiment, Bonnie worked with local humane societies and animal shelters hoping to incorporate the rescuing of adult dogs with these new assistance dog functions. While an occasional dog was successful in its efforts, Bonnie found that with most of these dogs, some unknown problem behavior would appear at the most inopportune time causing the placement to fail. She returned to her original idea of breeding for the quality dog needed, but implemented a puppy-raising program to fill in the gap between puppyhood and a trained SERVICE dog placement.
In early 1981, with the basic program outline in place, and the service, hearing and social dog concepts functioning fairly well, Bonnie wrote and received her first grant, and was thrilled to move the program out of her home. CCI was moved into a small kitchen and one car garage on 7th street in Santa Rosa. At the time, Bonnie knew nothing about kennel permits, nor about employing staff. The first individuals hired were for minimum wage, and acted accordingly.
In 1991, she left CCI to found the Assistance Dog Institute offering a six-week seminar to educate others on how to develop assistance dog programs thereby reducing the wait for a service dog. Her move from a program providing dogs to an educational institution allowed her the opportunity to respond to the Delta Society’s 1992 request for help to start their very successful People Pet Partner’s program and the National Disaster Search Foundation’s development of their search dog program.
The Assistance Dog Institute was dedicated to both education and research and development of new and better assistance dog methodologies. Results of the Institute’s research is shared with all assistance dog programs so that more disabled individuals can benefit from the independence resulting from this unique working relationship with a dog.
Simultaneously Bonnie created the Assistance Dog United Campaign, a program that provides vouchers to low-income individuals with disabilities to take to the program of their choice to get an assistance dog. Again, it was about empowering the dog user, in this case financially, to ensure their voice would be heard when applying for a dog. The concept of not charging for a dog, one that Bonnie supported initially by turning down money from participants, was revisited. Bonnie came to realize that refusing to take money from dog recipients decreases their empowerment at the program to whom they apply.
the Bureau of Private Post Secondary and Vocational Education approved the Institute’s offering of a Master’s Degree in Assistance Dog Education and Human-Canine Life Sciences in 2004 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Cynology in 2006. The Institute was accredited by the national Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) in April 2010, Bergin University of Canine Studies.
The Institute’s Board of Trustee’s renamed the Institute, the Bergin University of Canine Studies. The Assistance Dog Institute’s name remains in use representing the college of assistance dog studies. The University is located on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, California
.
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is President of the Bergin University of Canine Studies. According to the publisher Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, she is the originator of the "service dog", dogs that are trained to help people with mobility limitations.
Early years
Bergin moved to Sonoma CountySonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
two years after she was born. She was raised in the small northern California town of Cloverdale
Cloverdale, California
Cloverdale is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached Cloverdale in 1872. The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is headquartered here...
.
Bonnie attended her first year of College at San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
, then transferred to Humboldt State University
Humboldt State University
Humboldt State University is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata within Humboldt County, California, USA. The main campus, nestled at the edge of a coast redwood forest, is situated on Preston hill overlooking Arcata and with commanding views of...
in Arcata
Arcata, California
-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. There she met her husband Jim Bergin, who in 1968 took a teaching position that moved the two of them back to Sonoma County.
Development of service dog concept
The Bergins then spent two years teaching in Australia followed by travel through Asia where she saw donkeys and burros carrying kitchen-wares for people who also used them as crutches while making their way to a street corner to sell their wares. Her experiences of this and seeing other disabled people in Asia struggling to fend for themselves led her to consider the possibility of using dogs to do tasks that would allow individuals with mobility limitations to live independently as a part of mainstream society.With no formal knowledge of dog training, she tried to convince others of the validity of this vision. Many dog organizations and dog trainers with whom she shared her idea all said it would not work NS would be bad both for the dogs and for people with disabilities. She left teaching to work in a dog kennel for $2 an hour to learn about dogs and dog breeds after which she began the experiment that has resulted in the internationally acclaimed “service dog” concept.
Canine Companions for Independence
Having gone back to teaching, Bonnie spent evenings and weekends developing a vernacular for this new concept, settling on the name “service dog” for dogs helping people with mobility limitations and “participant” for those individuals getting a dog – to represent their involvement in the process of getting a dog. She finally settled on the name “Canine Companions for IndependenceCanine Companions for Independence
Canine Companions for Independence is a non-profit organization that trains and provides assistance dogs. - Foundations :CCI was founded in Santa Rosa, California in July 1975 by Bonnie Bergin. Since then, it has grown to a national organization...
” (CCI) to represent the independence this loving partner would make available to a person with disabilities. Behaviors that Kerry and others wanted the dog to perform, like “wait,” “pull,” “tug” and “better hurry” became new commands.
Continuing to experiment, Bonnie worked with local humane societies and animal shelters hoping to incorporate the rescuing of adult dogs with these new assistance dog functions. While an occasional dog was successful in its efforts, Bonnie found that with most of these dogs, some unknown problem behavior would appear at the most inopportune time causing the placement to fail. She returned to her original idea of breeding for the quality dog needed, but implemented a puppy-raising program to fill in the gap between puppyhood and a trained SERVICE dog placement.
In early 1981, with the basic program outline in place, and the service, hearing and social dog concepts functioning fairly well, Bonnie wrote and received her first grant, and was thrilled to move the program out of her home. CCI was moved into a small kitchen and one car garage on 7th street in Santa Rosa. At the time, Bonnie knew nothing about kennel permits, nor about employing staff. The first individuals hired were for minimum wage, and acted accordingly.
Matching Recipients and Dogs
Years of placing dogs with people with disabilities brought another issue to the forefront. How best to identify the personalities of recipients and their assistance dogs and how best to match them. Recipient would call complaining about a behavior of their dog that was more a personality issue than a workmanship issue. Until then, gauging either’s personality and matching them was very subjective. A structured method was direly needed. At a fundraising seminar that categorized people according to body language Bonnie realized that same body language personality cues could be applied to dogs. She began using the Wilson Learning “social styles” to categorize both recipients of dogs and the dogs themselves, then matched the two. It became obvious that recipients liked dogs more like themselves, but preferred the dog to be somewhat less assertive than they to minimize challenges. This became the foundation of the Institute recipient/dog matching process.Assistance Dogs International
In 1989, while attending a hearing dog conference sponsored by American Humane in Colorado who had offered to support the development of a “hearing dog” association, Bonnie encouraged the group not to accept that offer suggesting instead that the association that needed to be developed should be inclusive of all dogs helping people with disabilities: guide, service, hearing and others. She also lobbied [from her travels] for its being international in scope. Her point of view prevailed and her suggested name, Assistance Dogs International, was adopted. She was voted the founding president of the new organization.American with Disabilities Act
That same year Bonnie received a call from the United States Justice Department asking for her help in developing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations regarding assistance dogs. Testifying before a congressional committee and providing information about service dogs to the Justice Department inadvertently resulted in Bonnie’s terms, “service dog,” not the umbrella term for all assistance animals and “signal” dog representing the generally accepted “hearing” dog terminology. To this day Bonnie and the industry use the term “service” to represent dogs helping people with mobility limitations and “assistance” as the umbrella term for dogs helping people with disabilities. Terminology aside, the ADA assistance dog regulations have put a mark on the future of assistance dogs helping people with disabilities for years to come. When passed by Congress in 1990, Bonnie was invited to the Rose Garden to witness President George H.W. Bush’s signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.The Assistance Dog Institute
As a result of regional and national print and broadcast media about the service dog — Reader’s Digest, 20/20, Life magazine and others — letters and calls poured in from people wanting to be taught how to train service dogs, colleagues from the Hearing Dog meeting amongst them. CCI had no materials that taught “how to do it” and no time to develop them; responding to these requests would create CCI’s competition. On the other hand, there was now a five-to-ten year waiting list for service dogs.In 1991, she left CCI to found the Assistance Dog Institute offering a six-week seminar to educate others on how to develop assistance dog programs thereby reducing the wait for a service dog. Her move from a program providing dogs to an educational institution allowed her the opportunity to respond to the Delta Society’s 1992 request for help to start their very successful People Pet Partner’s program and the National Disaster Search Foundation’s development of their search dog program.
The Assistance Dog Institute was dedicated to both education and research and development of new and better assistance dog methodologies. Results of the Institute’s research is shared with all assistance dog programs so that more disabled individuals can benefit from the independence resulting from this unique working relationship with a dog.
Assistance Dog User Council
Bonnie was concerned that the assistance dog industry was top-heavy with program control, allowing for no input from the recipients receiving the dogs. She felt it needed balance. In 1993, she invited a group of individuals with disabilities who had assistance dogs to meet with her to resolve this imbalance. The goal was to empower dog recipients by developing a recipient organization whose objectives would be to develop a national network for assistance dog users advocating for access rights for all assistance dogs, mediating between programs and assistance dog recipients, and educating the general public abut the services provided by assistance dogs. Such an organization, Bonnie thought, would ensure that the recipients’ needs were met. It was provisionally named the Assistance Dog User Council (ADUC). A group of assistance dog partners attending this first meeting were determined that any such organisation should be user led, and thus formed their own organisation which is known as the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP).Simultaneously Bonnie created the Assistance Dog United Campaign, a program that provides vouchers to low-income individuals with disabilities to take to the program of their choice to get an assistance dog. Again, it was about empowering the dog user, in this case financially, to ensure their voice would be heard when applying for a dog. The concept of not charging for a dog, one that Bonnie supported initially by turning down money from participants, was revisited. Bonnie came to realize that refusing to take money from dog recipients decreases their empowerment at the program to whom they apply.
Fees for Services
Bonnie came to realize that not taking money from people living with disabilities is a form of discrimination. Bonnie's approach to the disabled recipients changed over time. Individuals with mobility and hearing impairments and facility placements were required to pay a small application fee in order to get a dog. This was a way of ensuring more accountability on their part. The program was essentially restructured, making the recipient carry significant responsibility. Classes were held, trading the costly one-on-one home placements for a team dynamic amongst the recipients. The person with the disability or facility handler and his/her dog had a lifetime working partnership for which no third party could be responsible - it needed to be between the two of them.Early Puppy Education
One area of Bonnie’s research involved puppies, paralleling her Master’s work in Early Childhood Education. Her staff and students began training pups earlier and earlier peaking at 3-3.5 weeks of age. Her research found that this early learning not only teaches a pup how to learn but that it makes lasting behavioral impressions in the mind of the adult dog. One pup, taught to turn on the light at seven weeks, then given no exposure to this task for six months, upon request immediately turned on the light at eight months. A similar study, a two-year period with no intervening practice, resulted in the same response. Early puppy training is now an integral part of all Institute dog training classes.Euro-Assistance Dog organization
In October 2000 Bonnie with the help of ANECAH of France gathered a group of European programs together to share the results of her research, and seed the beginning of a Euro-Assistance Dog organization . Bonnie has spoken or taught in numerous other countries around the world, notably Japan.Bergin University of Canine Studies
In 2001, the California Bureau of Private and Post-Secondary Education approved the Institute’s application to become the first college in the world to offer Associate of Science Degrees in Assistance Dog Education and Human-Canine Life Sciences.the Bureau of Private Post Secondary and Vocational Education approved the Institute’s offering of a Master’s Degree in Assistance Dog Education and Human-Canine Life Sciences in 2004 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Cynology in 2006. The Institute was accredited by the national Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) in April 2010, Bergin University of Canine Studies.
The Institute’s Board of Trustee’s renamed the Institute, the Bergin University of Canine Studies. The Assistance Dog Institute’s name remains in use representing the college of assistance dog studies. The University is located on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
.
Published books
- Teach Your Dog To Read. Broadway Books, 2006.
- The SMARTEST DOG: The Selection, Training and Placement of Service DogsAssistance Dog Institute, 1998.
- Author: Bonnie Bergin's Guide to Bringing Out the Best in Your Dog Little Brown and Company, 1995.
Awards and recognition
- 2001 Angel Productions “Use Your Life Award” [Oprah]
- 2000 Daily Point of Light – George Bush’s Presidential Points of Light Award
- 1987 Distinguished Service Award, President's Committee on Employment for the Handicapped