BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A Brunswick County woman is raising awareness about raising puppies to become service dogs for people with disabilities.

Canine Companions is committed to providing service dogs to people with disabilities at no cost, but to make this possible, the organization needs volunteers and puppy raisers.

Canine Companions serves adults and children with physical, cognitive, or hearing disabilities, veterans with physical or hearing disabilities or post-traumatic stress disorder, and professionals working in health care, visitation, criminal justice, or education.

Nicole Palumbo’s family lives in Concord. Her 12-year-old son Nico has autism.

“The world is not really designed for humans and children, who have different needs, for example when it comes to sensory perception,” said Nicole Palumbo.

Before Nico got an assistance dog, he found it difficult to go to the grocery store alone.

“It can be like the squeaking of the wheels of a car and the sound of the music over the PA system and the announcements over the PA system and all these things that we don’t even notice. He notices them all.”

Service dogs like Jane notice Nico.

“One day we were in a hardware store and there was someone with a service dog. And the dog realized he wasn’t feeling well,” Palumbo said. “And we just had an aha moment, oh my God, there was a sign right in front of us.”

That sign led them to Canine Companions, an organization whose goal is to provide free service dogs to people with disabilities. They can only do that with people like Lisa Dare, a dog breeder in Brunswick County.

“We do the groundwork,” Dare said. “They probably learn about 30 skills from us.”

She just started basic training with Yuri at 8 weeks old.

“He’s just getting used to us, learning to live in a new environment, a new home, and starting to settle into a normal routine,” Dare said. “We’re doing potty training and all that fun stuff, he’s eating in his playpen, learning to rest in his playpen, learning to cope with his environment.”

The puppies stay with the puppy raisers for 18 months. Then, Dare says, they go to a professional training center. Canine Companions has six such facilities across the country.

“There they learn more about the tactical approach to doing their job,” Dare said.

If they pass this training, the puppy and the puppy raiser can go to the graduation ceremony and meet the dog’s recipient.

“Our mantra at the organization is that people come for the puppies, but stay for the people,” Dare said.

Dare said the graduation moment is life-changing for the puppies and the people.

“Hearing the excitement…thank you for raising puppies. Thank you for giving your time. Things like that. He’s so important in my life. He gives me so much independence,” Dare said.

Sometimes it takes a whole village of puppy raisers with the mission to raise dogs like Jane to be more than just companions.

“So the more we can get the word out that we can find people who can be part of this mission and change lives by raising a puppy, the better it will be.”

Canine Companions is always in need of more puppy raisers and volunteers to continue providing these service dogs to people with disabilities for free. Palumbo wants everyone to know how much the puppy raisers have impacted her life.

“Like I said, things as simple as walking to the grocery store, getting a blood test, going on vacation, she made that possible for a family like us,” Palumbo said. “This gift of a service dog to our family has been truly life changing. Like I said, not just for Nico, but for our whole family.”

Dare said these are the reasons why she would like to raise a puppy again and again.

Dare said there are many ways people can help, not just as a puppy raiser. There is a program at Canine Companions where you can be a foster parent to assist a puppy raiser. Dare said you could help babysit. You could take in the puppy for a short period of time. You can share that responsibility with a puppy raiser so you don’t have to feel the pressure of having him or her for the full 18 months.

Dare said there are nearly 30 puppy raisers in the Carolinas. She said many of them are in the Charlotte and Raleigh area, but they are building a larger community in the coastal region. She said they call themselves the Coastal Group, which stretches from Wilmington down to South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.

Since 1975, Canine Companions has placed more than 8,000 service dogs with families across the country, enabling them to live much more independent lives.

Click here to find out how you can help or how to apply for an assistance dog.