Canine Companions for Independence

Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) is a US-based 501(c)(3) (non-profit) organization that trains and provides assistance dogs. As of April 2017, it has sponsored and trained over 5,000 dogs.

Canine Companions for Independence was founded in Santa Rosa, California in July 1975 by Bonnie Bergin as the first program of its kind. While teaching in Asia, she had seen burros being used by disabled people and thought that dogs could serve a similar role in the US. Since then, it has grown to a national organization with five regions.

The organization pairs people with disabilities (other than blindness) with highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support at no cost to the recipient. All expenses of the dogs (breeding, raising, and training), are paid for by private donations from separate foundations, corporations, or individuals, as well as fundraising projects. The Lions Club Project for Canine Companions for Independence (LPCCI), which was founded in 1983 as a significant provider of financial and volunteer support to CCI, has donated a total of $2 million. In 2015, CCI partnered with Henry Schein Aniimal Health, a provider of animal health products to veterinarians, which provides puppy raisers with free health care products.

A special program, "Wounded Veterans Initiative," provides trained companion dogs for wounded war veterans. The program receives funding from a partnership between PetSmart and CCI. In December 2014, the organization joined the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in a study to determine whether service dogs improve the quality of life for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 2017, the organization worked with Chrysler brand on a new social online social initiative to raise awareness and support for the work done by Canine Companions. The campaign, "Give a Dog a Job," let people follow along with the training of a particular puppy, and engage with him and his trainers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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