What CDK Means to Others

By Bethany Tabb

Canines for Disabled Kids (CDK) is all about giving back. Executive Director Kristin Hartness
has made sure of this. Not only do they give back to families and children in need, but to the
local communities as well. They strive to increase the independence for children and families
in need of a service dog by helping communities learn and understand the amazing work that
service dogs can do. Yet few people may know just how important CDK is to the children’s
surrounding communities.

“They’re just doing a beautiful job promoting service dogs, how to do it correctly. There’s so
much education going on that’s critically needed out there for disabled families. And it’s nice
to have a resource that focuses just on kids, too,”  Darlene Sullivan said. Darlene started her
own service dog organization and is a special education teacher. After a graduate of
Darlene’s organization learned of the scholarship program that CDK offers, Darlene became
involved. She has been working with CDK for the past 10 years. CDK is an important part of a
service dog application process because they make sure the child’s community can support
them.

Being able to help children with disabilities touches Darlene’s heart. But she also knows the
challenges that come with getting a service dog. “I used to say that when you’re placing a dog
with a child, you’re not just placing it with the child. You’re placing it with the parents, the Girl
Scout troop, and the school. And all these other support organizations that surround the
child,” Darlene said. She draws from her own experience with service dogs. So, there is much
more involved in placing a dog with a child who has disabilities. Kristin and CDK make sure
that the communities are well aware of how to treat a service dog. They use the resources
they have available to educate as many people as possible.

Much of the work Kristin does for communities includes presenting at expos and in schools
with children who have service dogs. People can then learn about the ins and outs of service
dogs and just how they can help a child gain back their independence. Along with that, there

is the opportunity to learn that there is more to placing a service dog with a child than meets
the eye. Darlene said “I think that placing dogs with children is a very specialized area of the
service dog community. And to have CDK there as the expert in that particular area and really
the only expert in that particular area is really critical.

CDK uses their knowledge of integrating a service dog into the child’s community in order to
make the process easy for everyone involved. The community can learn skills through CDK to
be supportive without overwhelming the child or the family. This shows that CDK means much
more to others than people might think. CDK can be more involved with the service dog
application process than just giving scholarships. Kristin and her organization are a wonderful
educational resource not only for the child and their family, but for the whole community as
well.