Greetings:

Please join me in welcoming some new instructors to the Austin Dog Alliance family:

•  Steve Corona from Doggy Day Out Kennel and Daycare will be teaching flyball on Thursday nights.  (for all of you with an aversion to cold, we are going to stay inside until the weather warms up).  Steve is a flyball judge and excited to share his passion for this sport with us.  
• Joy Mercier and Danielle Madrid will be teaching agility classes on Monday evenings.  Joy and Danielle both have many agility titles and both currently teach for the Austin K9 Xpress Agility club in way South Austin.  We are thrilled that they will join us in Cedar Park once a week.  We now offer 6 levels of classes for agility.  If you are new to the sport or a seasoned pro, we have class for you.  

Big Step Forward for the Job Skills Program (S+CORE!)*:  Yesterday, the Texas Department of Rehabilitation Services (DARS) approved us to provide job coaching and placement for our students that participate in our job skills classes.  We are absolutely thrilled that we will be able to work with our students from training to earning a paycheck.  Our next round of job skill classes start after spring break.  Our target student wants a career working with dogs, has some social skill challenges and is between the ages of 17 - 25.  DARS will assist with the fees on a case by case basis.  We also accept self-pay students.   

Donation Catapults Progress with Special Dogs for Special Needs Program:  Due to a generous donation from the community, the Special Dogs for Special Needs program has resumed.  Our Special Dogs are selected for their well-rounded temperament and then trained with all the skills of our therapy dogs.  They are not service dogs, but rather highly trained companion dogs.  We are seeking one more foster/trainer to join our training team for the Spring of 2014 class of Special Dogs.  An application is required.  Foster/Trainers must be able to meet at least once a week during the day with our training staff and able to train and foster the Special Dog for a minimum of 8 weeks.  Stipend provided.  We don't require the trainers to be professional dog trainers, but we do require candidates to have plenty of experience owning and training their own dogs.  Training a Special Dog is a beautiful way to give back to our community.  

Our Special Dogs will be available for adoption by families with special need children or homes with an adult with PTSD or anxiety.  Many of our clients have prescriptions for a dog from their psychiatrist.  This class of dogs should be ready for their new homes in late April/May.  If interested,send me an e-mail and we will start the process.  

Nominated as Non-Profit on the Year by Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce:  Although we did not win, we were thrilled to have been nominated.  Thank you Cedar Park business leaders for recognizing our contribution to the community.  

Stay warm,

Debi Krakar

Executive Director and Founder

Austin Dog Alliance

*  S+CORE! - Students + Canines equals Opportunities for Rewarding Employment - job skill training for dog-related careers

PS - Summer camp registration is now open.  Since we limit each class to 10 campers, we have limited enrollment.  If your child wants to attend camp this summer, please don't wait too long to register.  New this year; a few special sessions just for campers ages 5 - 6 and expanded offerings for our repeat campers.  We also have one session for our campers with autism.  Check it out.  

If you set your Google Alerts for Austin Dog Alliance, you no doubt noticed a lot of activity over the holidays. Our volunteers and programs were featured in Austin's premier newspaper, three Austin news stations, a Houston news station...we even made the news in Europe!

December 9, Austin's ABC affiliate KVUE visited St. Edward's University when our therapy dogs visited students to ease the stress during final exams. December 20, Time Warner Cable News (formerly YNN) spotlighted the Alliance in its 12 Days of Giving series, which talked about all of our programs in the community. December 24, KVUE came back to cover our Christmas Eve nursing home visits, along with the local NBC affiliate KXAN. The KVUE story was picked up in Houston by CBS affiliate KHOU.

New Year's Day, the Austin American Statesman printed a wonderful feature story on the Alliance's S+CORE dog-assisted job-training program for young adults on the autism spectrum. Then, January 10, we were delighted to find that the European online newspaper, West - Welfare Society Territory, also reported on the Alliance's S+CORE program, calling Austin Dog Alliance "an organization that is revolutionising the traditional pet therapy used for people with disabilities." (Of course, we knew that, but it's nice to hear them say it.)

The news community has been very nice to us, and we thank them for helping us get the word out about our services here in Central Texas. We're looking forward to more coverage in the coming months - so set your alerts! And if there is a comment section below the story, please take a moment to tell them that you appreciate their bringing this information to their readers or viewers.

We are pleased to announce Sue Sternberg is coming to Austin this spring and she has chosen Austin Dog Alliance to host her seminar!  The seminar, "Dog-Dog Group Dynamics - Healthy Interaction vs. Aggression", will be held March 29-30 at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

"Dog-Dog Group Dynamics - Healthy Interaction vs. Aggression" provides invaluable information for those who work in kennels, boarding and doggie day care facilities, animal shelters, grooming facilities and for people with multi-dog households.  Additionally, anyone who visits a dog park regularly will find the information most helpful. 

Sue's resume is impressive.  She has developed national programs, such as Training Wheels® and Train To Adopt, dedicated to ensuring the quality of life of animals in their community, at animal shelters and in safe animal adoptions, around the world. She has over 23 years of canine behavior experience, including as an animal control officer, a behavior consultant at the ASPCA, a kennel and animal shelter owner, a successful competitor in a variety of dog sports, and a teacher of dog trainers.