Steve Welch Service Dogs

Pasadena Star News

Fall 2003

The motorcycle accident that took her leg and nearly left Theresa Casias paralyzed 26 years ago didn’t change her life as much as has Amber. This one-year-old Golden Retriever is Casias’ link to life. As a service dog, Amber enables her owner to walk steadily on her prosthetic leg, keeping her mobile and functioning in daily life.

"I am refusing a wheelchair," said Casias, rubbing the thick fur at the top of Amber’s head. Doctors have continuously encouraged her to use a wheelchair due to the imbalance her prosthetic leg creates. But Casias is too independent for seated living, she says. Amber helps her in her quest. "I’m going to keep going. I’m not going to give up."

Casias is just one of many disabled people who have benefited from the service-dog training program at the Laguna Niguel-based Steve Welch & Associates school. Each year, owner Steve Welch trains hundreds of dogs to aid their owners and give them a new lease on life. From mobility aid to protection, hearing assistance to seizure sensing, Welch’s dogs become so connected to their owners, they are almost like extensions of these people.

"People who have service dogs, this is their life," Welch said.

Service dogs not only alert their owners to a ringing phone or a stove timer, they can also predict seizures and panic attacks. Welch explains that the dogs are sensitized to certain shifts in their owners’ chemical composition so that an impending seizure is sensed long before the person even knows about it. Fainting spells, anxiety attacks, heart attacks, migraines–these dogs can predict them all after specialized, customized training.

"Any dog can be taught this if they have the right drive," said Welch. "Every dog just wants to please."

Welch began this adventure in life more than 30 years ago. Although he comes from a long line of animal lovers and trainers, Welch first ventured into the service-dog arena in the 1970s when his hearing-impaired nephew needed some assistance. Now, his company has produced thousands of service dogs through his praise-based training program. Steve Welch & Assoc. also trains "regular" dogs in obedience, guard dogs for protection and everything in between. The only types of dogs his company does not provide are seeing-eye dogs. But everything else is fair game, Welch said.

One of Welch’s students belonged to a hearing-impaired man whose wife was terrified to leave him alone with their newborn daughter. What if the baby was hurt or hungry? How would he hear? But through training, this Australian Shepherd mix informed the husband of the baby’s cries and distress by jumping or physically alerting him in some way.

People can train their personal dogs to become service animals, said Welch, or they can allow him to pick out a dog for them. Cost of training, without buying a dog from him, is approximately $3,500. Many of Welch’s dogs are adopted from animal shelters, he said. Usually, it takes approximately six weeks of training with the owner to create a trustworthy service dog.

"Once they get started doing this, they just get smarter and smarter," said Welch. "They expand their knowledge."

Personality problems can be eased by replacing the negative aspect with a positive skill, said Welch. First comes general obedience training, and then service-dog skills.

That’s how Christina Noell of Lake Forest discovered Welch’s service four years ago. She turned to him for basic dog training when her black-Lab puppy Kona used all of her "Get Out of Jail Free" cards. The adorable dog misbehaved so severely, Noell feared she’d need to find her a new home. Looking at the ink-colored dog lying patiently on the floor as Noell rubbed her velvety ears, it’s nearly impossible to picture her as a "nightmare dog."

But that she was, assures Noell, who described how Welch trained the dog to obey even the slightest command. Noell, who has suffered from unpredictable fainting spells since childhood, became fascinated: if Welch could turn Kona into an obedience-school model, could he also turn her into a service dog?

The answer was a resounding yes. Working with Welch, Kona became so adept at alerting to physical changes in her owner’s body, she warned Noell more than 10 times to impending fainting spells. When she senses a problem, Kona will push Noell to a chair or to the floor, making sure she won’t fall and hurt herself when she blacks out. This action alone has saved Noell from further danger due to her unpredictable ailment.

But even more, Kona’s skill has given Noell a new zest for life.

"I’m sure she’s the best friend I’ll ever have in my life," said Noell. "I thank [Welch] all the time. [Kona] gives me everything. She’s my life."

With Kona also being protection trained, this single mother fears not her mysterious medical ailment, nor any potentially dangerous strangers on the street. Welch is also training Amber in protection training for Casias, who was recently accosted. Welch stated that many disabled people are the victims of crime, which is why he trains many of his clients’ dogs in this skill. He has even been known to provide protection dogs free of charge to those in need.

Although Welch will ceaselessly glow about the life-altering changes service dogs have given his clients, he doesn’t talk much about how his own three service dogs have changed his life.

After a drunk driver, a fall and a stint in Vietnam left him nearly wheelchair bound with a plethora of artificial joints, Welch endured 83 surgeries to enable him to walk. His service dogs offer physical stability, fetch things for him, and basically "do a bit of everything," he said, knowing first-hand how much these dogs can add to the lives of people challenged with physical obstacles.

"With every dog, you’ll have a special bond," he said. "You remember them all."