MOST Profile: Kids, dogs & Danielle Forbes

Most dog lovers are content with one or two furry friends but not Danielle Forbes. Currently, the 43 year old is committed to 25 Labrador and Golden Retrievers with her sights set on 15 more.

“We need to be placing 40 dogs a year,” says National Service Dogs’ (NSD) Executive Director who co-founded the charitable organization in 1996 and whose pairing of highly-trained service dogs with children with autism – a neurological condition that inhibits communication skills and social interaction – has improved many lives. Not just of the kids but of their families, too.
 “In the last 14 years, we’ve placed over 200 dogs across Canada and the results have been amazing. The dogs not only keep these kids safe, they have a soothing influence on them and help regulate their emotions. It’s been great for them which also does good things for an entire family.”
Proof positive are the Morins of Cambridge whose son, Brodie, is the reason why NSD came to be and who now serves as its official ambassador.
 “Brodie was diagnosed with autism at age two,” explains Forbes. “He was non-verbal, aggressive and often hard to handle.”
In his favour was the fact his parents persevered to find help.
“His mom, Maureen, had met a man at a conference in the US who was in a wheelchair and also had autism. He had a service dog to help him with his physical issues and in talking with him, she learned how the dog also helped with his autism. This got her thinking: If a dog can help this man reduce his stress and anxiety, maybe a dog could help Brodie, too.”
And so her research began with Morin quickly learning that no one in North America – or the world, for that matter – offered service dogs for autistic children.
Undeterred, Morin’s 1996 phone call to a centre that trained dogs for the hearing impaired where NSD’s future co-founders, Forbes and husband/wife team, Chris and Heather Fowler (who have since moved on to other endeavours), all worked as trainers finally offered some hope. Touched by the family’s situation and Morin’s plea for help, they agreed to get involved.
 “We saw it as a one-off situation,” recalls the University of Guelph/Honours Biological Science graduate.
Enter Shade, a gentle Black Lab that, after extensive training, brought out the best in the young boy. Almost immediately, Brodie started speaking, making eye contact and playing with other kids. And his parents didn’t have to worry about him running away any more.
Describes Forbes: “Bolting is a huge issue for children with autism. They just take off.  So one of Maureen’s initial questions to us was, ‘can we tether Brodie and the dog together to prevent Brodie from running off?’ The whole process was a huge experiment because nobody had ever done that before. And when you think about it, because a lot of dogs randomly take off after squirrels or balls, this dog – which was basically going to act as an anchor – not only had be the right size, it had to be well trained and have the right temperament. Otherwise, someone was going to get hurt.”
Thankfully that never happened. What took place instead was a growing awareness of Brodie and Shade’s success, prompting attention from the media and the Geneva Centre for Autism, a Toronto-based organization whose mission is to empower people with autism and their families to fully participate in their communities. And when the centre hosted a conference, Forbes and the Fowlers attended, learning lots about the all-too-common condition.
 “We went there to do some fact-finding and came away knowing we had to get involved – that we were going to train dogs for kids with autism … that we’d be getting into something completely new for which there was a tremendous need.”
Never mind their lack of experience.
 “None of us ran a business before. We weren’t fundraisers. We were dog trainers. But we knew this was something we had to do. We left our old jobs behind and started NSD basically on a wing and a prayer,” she recalls of the organization’s early days.
From 1996 to 2000, NSD was entirely volunteer run. Fortunately for its founders – who divided their time between the fledgling organization and new, more flexible employment (“we still had to make a living … I got a job selling pet supplies from Ontario to Newfoundland”) – there were plenty of people who wanted to pitch in. Among their many volunteers was Brodie’s mom. And among the many things they did were fundraising, administration, exercising the dogs, working in the kennels and puppy rearing.
“Our volunteers were as passionate about this as we were. We were very lucky in that regard.” (Today, NSD is has over 300
volunteers on its team.)
But by 2000, that passion wasn’t enough to sustain the growing venture whose waiting list for service dogs climbed steadily and whose cost to breed, raise, train and place each dog — a process that requires two years – was $30,000.
Recalls Forbes: “We finally reached the point where we needed staff because everyone was putting in so much effort, using their weekends and vacation time just to keep up. It just wasn’t feasible anymore.”
NSD hired its first employee in 2004 although Forbes (who, by then, was President of its Board of Directors and typically dedicated 20 to 30 hours to the organization each week) would wait another four years before being added to the payroll.
 “It was definitely time … I wasn’t getting any younger,” she laughs of her 2008 transition from NSD volunteer to full-time employee – a transition that meant less money (“I gave up a pretty nice pay cheque”) but greater personal satisfaction.
 “This is my baby.  Why would I hire someone outside the organization to do a job I had been doing and was good at? It didn’t make sense. This is where I belong. Seeing how much these dogs change the kids’ lives; seeing these kids love these dogs … for me, there is no better job.  I absolutely love it.”
And in time, there will be even more to love. On the walls of NSD’s boardroom is a $5 million expansion plan that Forbes hopes to realize within the next 10 years – a plan that’s critical to her dream of ’40 dogs a year’ for the kids who clearly benefit from them.
 “It’ll happen. There’s a lot to do between now and then; we need to increase our awareness outside the community and raise a lot of money. Last September, the Centre for Disease Control announced that the rates of autism had increased from 1 in 150 to 1 in 100 children. So the sooner we do it, the better.”
For more information about National Service Dogs, please visit www.nsd.on.ca. 

By Daina Feick