Carolyn Odom

I first got involved with Canine Companions for Independence in 2014. I've worked with adaptive sport programs since 2004, and had the pleasure of meeting multiple people with service dogs. CCI stood out from the pack (pun intended) as having the highest standards with their dogs. I went to my first graduation at Southwest Region to learn more about puppy raising with the mindset of "How could people do this??" and left a few hours later with a fistful of tissues, saying "How could I NOT do this??"

I got my first dog Toluca in January 2015 - I was working as the Director of Programs at the Challenged Athletes Foundation in San Diego, and this was the perfect environment. We had a CCI facility graduate in our office three days a week and my puppy was constantly exposed to a wide variety of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, she decided that working life was not for her and was released from Advanced Training. I was already training puppy number two (Khaleesi) at that point, and Toluca came back home to be her big sister!

I relocated to Cleveland for work in late 2017 after Khaleesi turned in. My current position isn't as flexible with puppy raising as my previous ones, so I'm easing them into it with puppy sitting while I get settled... moving from San Diego to NE Ohio in winter is a definite shock to the system! I've received a warm welcome from the North Central CCI family, and while I won't be puppy raising in the near future, I'm excited to continue puppy sitting and to get involved with DogFest and other local fundraisers.