MADISON was born on January 10, 1997 and donated to the National Education for Assistance Dogs Service by her breeder Susan Breakell. She was picked from her litter using a puppy aptitude test by the NEADS puppy coordinator Sheena Mathews. She came to the home of Dan, Mia, Kootney, Temoku and Nimbus on April 18, 1997.

April 19, 1997:Madison comes to her puppy raisers' home and is greeted with less then enthusiasm by Kootney (left) and Temoku (right). Kootney is the alpha of this household, an 8 year old border collie-lab mix who was dropped at the Animal Rescue League shelter in Salem, Mass when she become pregnant at a little less then a year of age. Temoku, a 4 year old yellow lab-Sheperd mix, was rescued from an abandoned litter on a farm in Bolton Mass. Missing from this picture is Jasper, a 12 year old Sheperd mix (who was adopted from the Animal Rescue League shelter in Boston and put to sleep on January 13, 1997 after a brave fight with cancer) and Nimbus, an 11 year old cat adopted from a shelter in Chicago, Illinois.

Madison loved her adopted family from the beginning and wasted no time in and making herself at home

An important part of puppy raising is socialization and adaptation to various human situations. Madison made her public debut on May 4 at the 1997 Walk for Hunger. This annual 20 mile event raises public consciousness about the issue of hunger in Massachusetts by engaging thousands of kids, teens, and adults of all races in an all day long fund raising event. One working animal meets another- -at the end of the Walk for Hunger on the Boston Common, Madison made acquaintance with a gentle horse employed by the Boston Police Department. Like Madison, this animal was trained from an early age to be accommodating in all sorts of unusual situations.

Madison must not only be comfortable in all sorts of peopled situations, she must also be socialized to other dogs. Madison started puppy class when she was 4 months old with Gerilyn Bielakiewicz of the Canine University. and then (insert) graduated to a regular obedience class with the Weston Dog Training Club. In addition to running the Canine University, Gerilyn volunteers for Paws for the Cause. ; At the start of the new year, Madison graduated to a regular obedience class with the Weston Dog Training Club

More Madison out and about! Part of raising a service dog is SOCIALIZATION. Madison made weekly visits to the Courtyard Nursing Home , a part of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital of Medford Massachusetts. She loved visiting with the residents, many of whom have Alzheimers disease. Nothing much fazed her, not canes, walkers, wheelchairs . . . not even the occasionally loud resident!

Madison went out each day with Kerry Jones, a professional pet sitter with Pawsitive Pleasures . Kerry claimed that Madison's favorite was Bosco, a chocolate lab who is the same age but about twice as big as Madison. Madison also earned the nickname, "Service Fish" from Kerry, because of her awesome swimming abilities.

5/16/97: Madison went camping in the White Mountains. Though normally she was crated at night, she got to sleep in the tent with her "humans" which she thought was marvelous.

Madison loves all people, but she had a special affinity for certain infants and young children. Her absolute favorites are Tessa Ariel (left) and Jacob (right).

Madison had her picture taken each month with the other dogs for comparison. Click here to view a series of photo's chronicling her growth, beginning on May 19th 1997.

6/7/97: Madison participated in the Boston AIDS walk She was able to walk the entire course, along with 20,000 others. The walk raised over 2.4 million dollars to provide services for people affected with aids.

7/25/97--Madison flies with her puppy raiser to Oregon! Because she is a service dog in training, United Airlines allowed her to travel in the cabin at her puppy raisers' feet. Before flying with your pet, check out the specific regulations of the airline you are using. Madison has made many trips since her first flight at 6 months of age, including two more flights to Oregon, and trips to Tampa, Florida and Washington, DC. Occasionally she met resistance amongst hotels or restaurants with rules against pets but with a polite explanation from her raiser and a wag of the tail, she has yet to fail to win anyone over! No she doesn't get frequent flyer miles!

In the fall, Madison attended her first scientific meeting, the First International Workshop on NF2: present and Future sponsored by the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation and the House Ear Institute in Rockville MD on September 27-28, 1997. She didn't have a lot to add to the discussion, but she's a great listener!"

In the last 4 months with her puppy raiser, Madison became involved with Pets to People, an organization that strives to connect animals and humans in therapeutic relationships. After passing a number of tests, she became certified as a Therapy Dog in recognition of her visits to the nursing home.

Once a month Madison returned with her puppy raising family to the Princetown Mass headquarters of NEADS so that the puppy coordinator, Sheena Mathews, could check her progress. Madison also got to socialize with her future classmates at these fun events, and loved showing off what she could do when she wasn't trying to engage the other dogs in a friendly game of sniff and wiggle. Madison's best buddy turned out to be Summer (and they stayed best friends all through training together.) In January, 1997, Shenna gave us the bittersweet news that Madison would go back to "college" in the spring with the plan to graduate with her human companion on November 1, 1998. We decided to try to overlap our next puppy with Madison, to take advantage of her mentoring skills, and that's how we got MADDIE

On a sad day in May, Maddie and Kootenay drove back to Princeton with Madison one last time. Madison happily walked off with the kennel staff, wagging her tail with the promise of new adventures. Kootenay and Temoku, truth be told, were not completely sad about this turn of events, but Maddie, Mia and Dan still miss that furry face. We didn't get to visit Madison while she was in training, but every few weeks Madison's trainer Paul sent a progress report and pictures of Madison as a college student. Under Paul's guidance, Madison went beyond her basic obedience training and learned to take commands from a seated person (essential for working with an owner in a wheelchair), and to pick up and hand over all sorts of objects from the ground. She was also a whiz at the light switches at the NEADS campus. With every set of pictures, we looked forward to the fall when we would be able to see her again.

PUPPY KISSES: On a beautiful New England fall day, almost 5 months after we left Madison at the Princetown campus, she came, along with the NEADS staff and many of her graduating classmates, to take part in the MSPCA "Walk for the Animals." Yeah, she was happy to see us (we were happier to see her), but it was Maddie that got the real puppy kisses!