The Coast News Group
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Canines Companions for Independence

OCEANSIDE — Canine Companions for Independence held a graduation ceremony May 16 at the Mission San Luis Rey Serra Center to honor CCI’s newest class of graduates with physical and developmental disabilities as they formally receive their new assistance dogs.
All CCI assistance dogs, training and support services are provided free of charge.
Graduating dogs have been in training for over two years and know up to 50 different commands including opening doors, turning lights on and off, and retrieving dropped objects. This ceremony is the culmination of an intensive two-week Team Training course completed by these new human/canine teams at the CCI Southwest Regional Training Center in Oceanside.
The ceremony also featured volunteer puppy raisers turning in their CCI puppies that they have been raising for the past 14 to 16 months. These puppies will return to CCI to embark on 6 to 9 months of training with professional CCI instructors in the hopes that they will one day become an assistance dog for someone in need.
For more information, visit www.cci.org or call (800) 572-2275.