Canines for Disabled Kids: Freedom, Safety, and Independence

Canines for Disabled Kids

A working dog can change a life, but only when the match is right. From the floor of the Abilities Expo in Dallas, we sit down with Kristin Hartness, a veteran service dog user and leader at Canines for Disabled Kids, to unpack how carefully trained dogs restore independence, safety, and joy for both adults and children. Kristin shares how user voices have reshaped the service dog industry—expanding task training, raising standards, and centering real-world needs over assumptions.

We get practical about what actually makes a great partnership: task lists designed around daily life, temperament and drive that fit your routines, and the reality of washout rates that influence whether a dog should be purpose-bred or rescued. Kristin explains why programs typically train first and match later, how alerts can be barks or button presses depending on environment, and why lifestyle details—travel, public access, cuddly vs high-drive—matter as much as skill. Her stories illuminate the stakes, from a stylus retrieval that keeps a quadriplegic professional communicating, to seizure-alert dogs that give kids safe access to the playground without sidelining them from friends.

We also talk about the emotional core of this work: losing a partner dog, taking time to grieve, and still choosing to honor their legacy by continuing to live fully with the next partner. It’s a grounded, humane look at assistive technology that happens to have four legs and a heartbeat. If you’re considering a service dog or advising someone who is, you’ll find clear guidance on training pathways, matching criteria, and how to advocate for the support you need.

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Transcript

Opening And Event Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Really lead that that change, which is uh something that I think people forget. It's we're not waiting for it to be handed to us. We're telling them what I need, and then they're they're adapting the industry towards that, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

It's like three max hot counts. Hey, we're on the road again, another sex call, this time's enjoy this in class.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

Just a couple of months, all trying to get back. Just a couple of teas, our trying to survive. Live to the max. Don't live it twice. Couple green thumbs up.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Welcome back to another episode of Life to the Max podcast. We are at the Abilities Hexville in Dallas, Texas. Today I have the honor to speak to Kristen Hartless. She runs a non-for-profit uh called Canine Disabled Kids.

What Service Dogs Are And How They Help

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Kristen, thank you for being on the show. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Yeah. Uh so it brings you out to the Billy's Expo.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Well, um, I come to the Billy's Expos because I do a presentation for them. Um I present I present it once each day called All About Service Dogs. And so it's an opportunity to talk with people about what service dogs are, why they are, how they're defined, what the rules that govern them, and then help people who need service dogs to get them to figure out what kind they need and how to obtain one. So that's why I'm here this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Well, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Sure. Um, I myself I'm a service dog user. I've been a service dog user since 2001. Um, I have multiple sclerosis and I've had that for um over 35 years now. So a service dog is one of the tools that I use on a on a daily basis. And when I got my first service dog, it just really changed my world, really opened it back up for me, gave me better access, um, brought back a lot of independence that I felt like I was losing. And it made such an impact that a year later, when I was asked to take over the leadership of this nonprofit, Canines for Disabled Kids, I couldn't say no to it. So now the more I can talk to people about service dogs, the more I can help people get access to this tool, the better I feel. And that's really, you know, what it's all about for me.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

So you've been journalists for a while, though.

Kristen’s Story And Life With MS

SPEAKER_00 2:26

I have been. I have been. I'm old hat at this now, but um, it's been uh great to see how things have changed, how the world has become, especially in the United States, become more open to service dogs, really expanding the work that service dogs can do, um, and to see the industry continue to grow and adapt as we, the people who need the service dogs, can tell the industry what it is that we need and really lead that that change, which is um something they think people forget. It's we're not waiting for it to be handed to us. We're telling them what I need, and then they're they're adapting the industry towards that, which is great.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

So, how do you pair like a dog a puppy or any with a person? How do you know?

Users Leading Industry Change

SPEAKER_00 3:12

So the training programs will at the majority of training programs will train the dogs fully before they pair them with a person. And that's because you want to make sure that the dog has a skill set, the right skill set down that that person is gonna need, um, and the right personality to match with that person as time goes on. The industry has a huge failure rate because most dogs don't want to be service dogs. So at least 50% of the dogs that try to be service dogs will fail. So you don't want to um match a dog to a person too early because you don't want to fall in love with the dog and then find out that it's not going to be a good service dog for you.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

So the training programs are looking at your skill set profile. What do you need the dog to do? Then they're looking at the dogs that can do those things. And then they're saying, okay, well, out of this group of dogs that can do those things, what kind of lifestyle do you leave? Are you a really active person? Do you want a dog that does a lot of cuddling? Um, are you a you do you need a dog that can settle in pretty quickly, that travels well? What are those things about your lifestyle and you as a person that we need to now match to the dog? And they will work um closely to make sure that you have a dog that fits your lifestyle so that you're not adapting to having a pet in your house, but you are bringing a new tool into your home that is going to help you be more independent and access the world world more fully.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

That is that's beautifully said. Yeah, I I actually um I I I I had a service storm before um and I gave him back, and it was so it was sad, but it was also a pain in the ass because what they do is they rescue the dogs and then they try to turn them into service dogs.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And you said you can't really do that because it's a very small percentage of rescue dogs that make it as service dogs. Um the the failure rate amongst rescue dogs is closer to 90%, where the failure rate amongst dogs that were bred to be service dogs is about 50%. So it's a really hard mix. There's um there's not one there's not one specific um formula that works for everybody. But certainly a rescue dog um would be harder to get through a service dog program and to make a successful service dog from than a dog that started service dog school as a puppy. Um, so I'm not surprised that you said that that one didn't wasn't really the right dog for you.

Matching Dogs To People

SPEAKER_03 5:42

It was hard to like, like it was, I hate to say give it a fan, but it was hard to like, you know, let him go, oh, because like like he said he was such a good dog, you know, like he uh he was like whenever he heard that like feeder like for the food, like that's when he was happy. Oh, like I want him happy with me. He didn't seem happy with me. So I figured I would like, you know, give him away or give him back to the foundation, and they uh they they excuse community kind of blocked me on everything right after I gave love.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

That's too bad because it's not it's not unheard of that a match might not work. About one in five matches don't work, but it's not because the dog was bad or the person was bad, it just means that they weren't the right ones together. I mean, you're gonna spend more time with your dog than you would spend with a spouse. So this you really need to, you know, have the right dog and the right personality. So I'm sorry that you had a negative experience, but I'm gonna tell you that if you're ever interested in getting a service dog again and giving it a try, I'd help you get to an organization that would really cater to you so that you would have a dog that was happy working for you, right? And doing what you need him to do.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Well, I just like cuddles and uh alarming, like that's it. So I as you can see I'm not a ventilator and uh when I th uh when it I'm terrified if it pops off. So I want the dog to bark as soon as it pops off. That's the only thing I really care about. Like, and for it to not be a nuisance towards my nurses. Of course, of course.

Rescue Dogs Vs Purpose-Bred Dogs

SPEAKER_00 7:22

So I mean, a certain, you know, without knowing without going into a lot of history with you, but I certainly could see that you would be a match for what we call a mobility service dog. Um, it would be a dog that would be a train to alert so that if something does go wrong with your trach that it that that the dog could do an alert, whether it would be a barking or whether it would be pushing a dedicated button that would call help, something that would be appropriate to um reach reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Um, but it also could be able to help retrieve objects. And then um, for example, I worked with a gentleman who is a quadriplegic, um, he's an accountant in Pennsylvania. And one of the things that he needed because he controlled his chair and his tablet with a stylus, but he would drop the stylus periodically, and so that would you know halt his communication. It was very frustrating for him and was really um a concern for him because he would now be stuck wherever he was if he dropped that. So one of the things his dog was trained to do was to be able to pick the stylus up, and the dog was trained to pick it up at the same end all the time, and then the dog would come up onto the man's lap. He put his front paws on the man's lap, and then he would hold the stylus up again so that the man could take the stylus back into his mouth and be able to regain control. So there's a lot of different things that a dog can be customized to based on what your needs are.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

That's that's beautiful. That's uh well, let's get back to uh disability for kids. Like it's we went off the uh beaten bath on disability for uh uh um serves dogs for for disabled kids, right? Yes, absolutely. So like how how great is it pass on the leash? Because like like how good does that feel?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

It's phenomenal to be able to see a child gain so much independence so much earlier than I was able to do with my disability. And the earlier we can get certain types of service dogs to children, the more independence they gain, and it becomes a natural process for them. So when you um when you partner a child, um quite often the parent is part of that partnership because you have to have full responsibility. It's kind of like being on a learner's permit when you're in public, but the dogs are able to really make it so that the kids can fully interact. So um one family I worked with, their son has epilepsy. And before getting his service dog, he was not allowed to play in the playground with the kids, the other school kids, because they were afraid that he would be on the jungle gym or that he would be at the top of the slide and that he would have a seizure and be in greater risk of getting hurt because they didn't know when the seizures were coming. By pair by partnering him with a seizure alert dog, the dog is able to give advance notice. So if the dog gives notice that a seizure's coming, then they know that that's not the time for him to be safely like going up on the slide or going on the jungle gym. But when the dog says there's no seizure coming, he's able to get out there and play with the other kids just like the other kids and have that full interaction and have that greater fulfillment and that greater access to life. So that's what it's that's why I do what I do is make sure that they can do as much as possible themselves.

Custom Tasks And Safety Alerts

SPEAKER_03 10:42

That is that's that's beautiful. I mean, I I'm so happy to hear that. Uh you said you're on to your fourth service dog. I mean I can't imagine losing one dog. I uh I just lost my dog uh two years ago. It was uh one of the worst feelings in the world. It's because she was such a good dog. She's uh pit bull jack wrestling. So it's so amazing. Oh man, uh I lost just my childhood dog. Yeah, lost her. Uh and uh I can't imagine what you're really gonna sold me. I mean, it's probably a bittersweet question to ask. Uh do you mind if me asking?

Kids, Parents, And Early Independence

SPEAKER_00 11:28

No, go right ahead. Yeah. I mean, I don't mind at all. It's just when you they make such a difference in my life. They may they give me an independence that I wouldn't have otherwise. They really, I mean, I travel the country and I travel by myself and it's because I have the right tools. But yes, when I when they pass, it's heartbreaking. I mean, I take time off from work when they pass, just I mean, I do it take I take two or three days off from work and really just sit with you know sit with my my feelings. I usually have my new service dog at the at that time, but um it's a it's a grief. Yeah. Because you have to get back into life and you have to honor what they gave you, right? The reason they gave me the ability to be out in the world and they gave me the ability to access the world. And so while I grieve them and while I grieve their loss, I I need to honor that too, and I need to keep going forward with and build on what that what they gave me with the next dog and with the next dog after that. So it's a mixed, it's it's mixed because I miss them and I will miss them forever. But I have to keep going as well.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Absolute warrior, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Where where can people find you guys? So you can find us, our website is caninesforkids.org. Um, you can also um you can find us on Facebook, you can find us on um Instagram, we're on LinkedIn, um, and you can um reach us. Our email is info at caninesforkids.org.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Okay, so it is canineforkids.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

The organization is called caninesfor disabled kids, but the that made the website really long. So the website got abbreviated to canines for kids. We do spell that out. C-A-N-I-N-E-S-F-O-R-K-I-D-S.org.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

Thank you so much for being on the show, Kristen. And for everybody watching, for really watching. If you like this content, please like, comment, and subscribe. And as always, take a breath from me.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

So I was trying to dive my ponies. Am I the next best thing?