Changing Lives through Small Acts

Guest post by Samantha Hodge-Williams

I am writing to celebrate Nancy Fierer, a uniquely generous woman.  I will always be grateful to Nancy, who changed my life path during a critical time.

In 1997, I became suddenly ill in college with a lifelong chronic, disabling condition.  Soon after, whilst trying to support me, my mother also became disabled.  We learned about service dogs and both applied to a local Baltimore area organization.  Unfortunately, not all service dog schools are created equal, and we found ourselves with two expensive, untrained dogs from a failed organization. 

After working independently with private trainers, I contacted Nancy in hopes of completing the Susquehanna Service Dogs transfer training and certification process for each of our dogs.  Nancy agreed that we could be tested and if we performed up to the SSD standard, they would include us in the transfer training and SSD certification.  We both passed.

Before attending SSD graduation, my canine companion and new “lifeline” suddenly had liver failure and died.  Despite my determination, perseverance and lifelong optimism, I found myself so grief-stricken by this final loss that I lashed out at loved ones and everything around me.  I had reached my breaking point, feeling so lost and needing to run away.

Nancy invited me to stay with her and Robert for a few weeks, to research my options for a new successor service dog. 

I remember arriving at her house and seeing her flats of impatiens out front.  Nancy said she’d been too busy to plant any, but would be happy to “employ” me to plant the impatiens in her garden if I liked during my stay.  This small job anchored me through the darkness.  Despite my physical limitations and grief, I could leisurely do this on my own.  Rather than drifting around her home like a grieving guest or client, I felt I had a purpose.  I slowly nestled impatiens in the nooks and crevices of her trees, enjoying the shady retreat and the dirt between my fingers.  I quietly watched the staff and dogs in training, whilst watering the buds.

It is now 13 years later.  Those few weeks stand out because I know that in my grief and anger, my life could have taken a very different fork.  However, Nancy’s kind and generous welcome and work nurtured me back toward hope.  After staying at LeSentier Lane, I was able to return home and subsequently be matched with my successor dog.  SSD Aslan now lies beside me, fully retired at 13 ½ after outstanding years of reliable, joyful service. 

Thank you, Nancy, for your generous and warm welcome during my toughest time.  You restored my sense of safety and hope when it mattered the most.  I wish you and Robert all the best in your well-deserved retirement.

Samantha Hodge-Williams has been partnered with Susquehanna Service Dogs since 2000.

The Will to Make a Difference

Guest post by Valerie Hodge-Williams

I am writing to celebrate Nancy Fierer and to congratulate her on her retirement.

I met Nancy at a time in my life when my world was being turned upside down, by one devastating onslaught after another. Even though we were erstwhile strangers, Nancy, supported by Robert, reached out to help my daughter Samantha and me as we grappled with our chaotic health problems and shattered lives.  She supported and encouraged us, going the extra mile in several ways, to ensure Sam and I would become successful SSD partners and teams. 

Nancy once told me that she started SSD because she became involved with dog training and realized there was an unmet need for service dogs in the Harrisburg area. She described herself as being at a point in her life (with the unfailing support of her husband Robert) where she ‘could give something back’ to the community… and so she did.  She found others with a similar interest and together they started SSD.

As I write this, I think back to the way Nancy described her experience in those three short sentences. For her it was as simple as seeing a need and doing something about it (which she continued to do, day in and day out for the next twenty years) … because she "COULD."  However, SSD would never have come into being the way Nancy describes it. It wasn’t because she COULD. Most of us are in that position, one way or another, yet nothing happens. SSD came about, not because Nancy COULD see the need and COULD do something about it, but because she WOULD.  She took the first step and then the second and kept on doing that. She had the will and therefore, slowly found a way.

When all is said and done, the total impact of Nancy’s legacy at SSD can never be accurately assessed. Even now, its two-decade ripple-effect has a life of its own, changing and transforming lives as it touches them. For example, in our own small arena, my daughter and I have each been partnered in an SSD team for the past fourteen years. We each have successor dogs. I do not think we could have continued to live independently without the help of our dogs. Consequently, the lives of those who love us and would have to care for us are improved. We are often home-bound, yet I am amazed at how many people in our local town recognize us by our service dogs and can relate stories (often ones that I have forgotten) about watching each of us work as a team.  Not only are our lives improved by the SSD dogs, but our working team always brings a smile to the faces of those surrounding us.

In conclusion, my loved ones and I have benefitted on a daily basis because of Nancy’s vision, personal effort and generosity in founding, supporting, and directing SSD for the past 20 years.  She is a powerful example of someone who not only “COULD,” but “WOULD” improve thousands of lives through service.  An example and a legacy indeed!

Nancy and Robert: With love and very best wishes to you both as you start your next adventure!

    

… And… once more with feeling….       Thank-you! 

Valerie Hodge-Williams has been a partner of Susquehanna Service Dogs since 2000 when she was initially partnered with SSD Spirit. Following his retirement, she was partnered with her current successor dog, SSD Phoenix. 

The Things I Learned

Guest post by Susan Tyson

I learned about Susquehanna Service Dogs and service dogs eleven years ago when I answered an ad in the Patriot News looking for puppy huggers. Several months later, SSD Trout was put into my arms as a puppy to raise.

At a seminar class the next month, I learned that the program was not let by a nebulous director but by Nancy Fierer. Then I learned that she ran the program as a full time director, but took no pay! And then I learned that the entire program was based at her home! Can you imagine a never-ending, seven-days-a-week parade of people and dogs through your home for twenty years?

Over the years, I learned that Nancy had goals and visions for the development of SSD and the service dog industry. She led, sometimes pushing and prodding, everyone toward those goals. The end result is that SSD has an international reputation for producing quality service dogs.

I learned to listen to Nancy as she discussed dog behavior, a training problem, or a people problem. I did not always agree with everything, but I did realize that she has thought long and hard about the problem, and I was always able to pull a nugget or a scrap of learning from each conversation.

I learned that Nancy has a heart of gold and truly wants to make the world a better place for others. SSD was her way of accomplishing this. The dogs are nice, but in the end, they are a tool to help someone. The real goal is to change someone’s life.

I learned that the goal of producing a service dog does more than change one life—it changes many. I am one of them, and I think that I am not alone. The dedication of so many—staff and volunteers—is a testament to Nancy’s work for SSD.

Fair winds and following seas as you and Robert travel into a new phase of your life. 

Susan Tyson has volunteered with Susquehanna Service Dogs for 11 years as a puppy raiser, part of the whelping team, and a litter raiser. She has helped with various fundraisers, given SSD demonstrations, and uses the dogs for therapy work with people in the psychiatric hospital and children with autism. She lives in apple tree country between Carlisle and Gettysburg with her husband Bill, many chickens, and a huge garden.

A Warm Welcome Led to 12 Years as a Volunteer

Guest post by Karen (KJ) Johnston

After 12 years of volunteering with SSD, I have many happy memories of times there with Nancy. After her happy greeting on my first volunteer day when I knocked on her house door—“Oh, you came! Come with me and I’ll show you the kennel!”—to thousands of hours spent at PawsAbilities planning and weekends.

When I worked as Event Coordinator in 2007, I always appreciated the trust she showed me by placing me in charge in her absence and sending me in her place to Keystone Human Services Children and Family Services managers’ meetings.

One of my favorite days with Nancy was at the first Clicker Expo I went to with SSD in Rhode Island when we took a walk after the sessions. I enjoyed walking along the ocean cliff trail with Nancy and SSD Gideon and hearing her ideas to make SSD better. Those plans sure have come true! Nancy has a wonderful vision to train dogs to help people, and I’m glad I found Susquehanna Service Dogs and had 12 years to work with Nancy to move her dream forward. I believe my time at SSD helped to make me a better person and has helped me through a number of personal trials. So a great big “Thank you!” to Nancy for welcoming me to SSD! I have enjoyed the journey!

KJ has been an SSD volunteer for 12 years and was Event Coordinator in 2007. She lives in Liverpool, PA with her husband Tom and their labs—SSD Celia, Meto (SSD Hazel from the Tree litter), Mayhem, and Morel. She found SSD in 2002 when she wanted to learn how to train her next lab, Mabel, to be a therapy dog. She has enjoyed doing any time of work for SSD from puppy raising and sitting, whelping the Tree litter, fundraising, or any work job.

Living Independently with Our Respect Intact

Guest post by Connie Ziegler

I just want to say thank you to Nancy for starting Susquehanna Service Dogs. Without my service dog, I would be in a nursing home instead of living independently. I received SSD Dutch seven years ago. Originally, he was for balance. Over the years, things changed for both of us. I now use him for hearing work and emotional support. And now, after a year of not walking, he has given me the courage to try to walk again, so he’s doing balance work again.

He helps me get my shoes and socks off when I’m too dizzy to bend over. He alerts me to different things that he was never trained to do. I feel this is because of our bond. He loves to get the wash out of the dryer for me, open doors, and carry small packages. He has been in the hospital and rehabs with me and has kept me calm so I didn’t need to be sedated like before.

We are not usually home. SSD Dutch has given me what I needed to live my life once again and not just stay home and be afraid to go out.

I have to admit, Nancy and I may not have always seen eye to eye when it came to SSD Dutch, but last year I started to see her in a very different light.  Last year, we went to the Puppy Palace (SSD’s former space for puppy class) at the Harrisburg Mall for a brief retraining because I was having trouble with SSD Dutch when I was in my manual wheelchair. I remember starting to have a small meltdown. That day was a very rough day for me and things were not going right. That night, Nancy came to me and seemed to understand and helped me by giving me lots of good tips on what I was doing wrong. I told her at the end of the night that she really made my night and thanked her for all her help. I knew she always had good ideas, but sometimes it was just the way she said them, but that night, she was very understanding and supportive like always, and it really stuck with me.

All I have to say is, Nancy, you will be missed greatly. If it weren’t for you, who knows where some of us would be or what shape we would be in. With you starting SSD, you gave us the tools and your knowledge to live as independently as possible with our respect intact.

Connie is paired with nine-year-old SSD Dutch. They are now living in Hershey, PA.

Memories from a 19-Year SSD Volunteer

Guest post by Candi Trogner

It is hard to imagine that I have been a volunteer for SSD for 19 years. It is even harder to imagine Nancy is retiring! To me, SSD is Nancy. I remember her telling me about Zach, her wonderful Lab, and his obedience training. He did very well and she felt he could be trained to do so much more. The rest is history, as they say, and the vision of SSD was born.

I volunteered up at the kennel one day a week. It was hard for me. I did not know what I was doing and did not like some of the training techniques.  It didn’t matter because Nancy was happy to see me and she was patient and encouraging. When I could not quite put the process together with the end result of a trained service dog, she invited me to attend Team Training. It was a wonderful experience and a turning point, as I became committed to SSD and their mission. But there were also fun times—chipping dog poop out of ice in the dog runs, being chased back into the training room by wild turkeys, and taking the dogs for a walk in the forest because Nancy said the sounds and smells expanded their minds. I am lucky to have lots of great memories.

I wish Nancy and Robert a wonderful retirement in Boulder, CO with two of their children and their grandchildren.  What could be better?! She has prepared us all as we go into the future, but she will be missed.

Candi Trogner is a volunteer public trainer and does demonstrations with her dog, SSD Ajax. She is the mother of two sons and Gramme to four grandchildren. She lives with her husband and Ajax in the Harrisburg area.

Change at Susquehanna Service Dogs

Some of you may know by now that Nancy Fierer, our founder and director, is retiring at the end of May. She founded Susquehanna Service Dogs in 1993 and has served as our volunteer director since then. Over the course of her leadership, SSD has placed 226 working dogs, maintained accreditation by Assistance Dogs International, and joined the North America Breeding Cooperative, among many other things.

“It has been an awesome experience,” says Nancy. “Now I’m looking forward to a new adventure. It’s exciting and scary at the same time.”

Nancy and her husband Robert will be retiring together and moving to Boulder, Colorado to be closer to their children and grandchildren. They’ll also be spending time in the Adirondacks. Although she’s moving out of state, she will still be involved with service dogs. “I’ll always be available to answer questions, and I’ll be attending the ADI [Assistance Dogs International] conference in September.”

We will share more about Nancy and everything she has done for SSD in later posts. Right now, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce Pam Foreman, who will be stepping up as our new director.

“I think Pam is going to be an inspiration, a strong manager,” says Nancy. “She has the ability to push SSD to new heights and take SSD into the future.”

Pam has been with Keystone Human Services for over 33 years. (SSD is a program of Keystone Human Services.) She began her career as an intern during her senior year of college, where she worked in a group home for Intellectual Disabilities Services (then known as Keystone Residence). She was very interested in the work she was doing, and when a full time position opened up, she took it. She worked as a direct support professional for her first year, and then became a service coordinator. Gradually, she worked her way up and spent most of those 33 years in management and leadership positions.

Most recently, she served as the division director for the Central Region of Intellectual Disabilities Services, where she oversaw four programs: Life Sharing, Supportive Living, Home and Community, and Supported Employment.

Throughout her career, she has always been interested in Susquehanna Service Dogs. “I think this is where I’m supposed to be,” she says. “It’s a good match for me, and hopefully a good one for SSD.”

Pam has grown up with Keystone Human Services, and she’s happy to be in a position to help people get whatever they need to have a good life, showcasing their talents and gifts to reach their potential. “People are more apt to have a good life when they have valued roles in their society. Service dogs can promote this by enhancing someone’s ability to live more independently,  perhaps giving them freedoms to engage in their life more fully, and increasing their opportunities to participate in their neighborhoods and communities in the same way their family and friends do,” she says. “Service dogs can be a significant aspect of being able to live a full and good life.”

Since April 21, she has been learning the ropes, starting with a road trip to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, one of the guide dog organizations that we have a strong relationship with. Over the next five weeks, she will work alongside Nancy.

“I’m so impressed by everything I’ve seen,” says Pam. “Nancy has pulled together a good group of people with an impressive level of expertise.”

Nancy and Pam have talked about the future of SSD. This is an exciting time, and we have lots of goals. We will miss Nancy and we’re sad to see her go, but we know that Susquehanna Service Dogs is in good hands with Pam. Here’s to a bright future!