ORLANDO, Fla. – This update is special for us here at News 6 because it involves one of our very own producers, Haley Coomes, whose passion for animals is getting results for people with special needs.
We checked in with her and Canine Companions to see how Floranne, nicknamed Flo, is doing with training.
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In 2022, News 6 was there capturing the bittersweet moment for Coomes and her husband, Jamie, as they turned over the leash to Canine Companions at its Central Florida campus.
“You’re so happy that they’re going to go on and do fantastic stuff. The best gift anybody can ever receive,” Jamie Martin said.
“She’ll be such a good fit for somebody, but she’s been such a good friend,” Coomes said.
They raised Flo for over a year, watching her grow from a pup to a dog taking her just about everywhere and doing basic training.
As volunteer puppyraisers, they were preparing her to assist a new family. The Canine Companions program is a nationwide organization that breeds, raises and trains service dogs.
And it looks like Flo is on her way to doing just that, continuing the extensive training program fulltime with trainer Carley Bran about 6 months after leaving the Martin-Coomes household.
The couple receives monthly updates from the training center. Flo is learning how to retrieve items like pill bottles and glasses, learning to open and shut doors and how to help a human who’s fallen on the ground.
“I’m very proud. Proud parent, proud dog mom. It’s looking very promising she will be matched with somebody,” Coomes said.
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If Flo successfully completes the program, she’ll be matched with a special needs family free of charge.
While the program is rewarding, Coomes said it can get sad looking back at photos reliving memories with Flo.
“When I see the memories, my heart does sink a little bit but I’m always thinking, ‘Even though I can’t take her places, she is going places,’” Coomes said.
This is Coomes’ second Canine Companion she has volunteered as a puppyraiser for and she plans to do the experience again.
Canine Companions been operating for nearly 50 years and has graduated more than 7,000 service dogs.
If you’re wondering what happens to the dogs that don’t graduate, they either have a change in career meaning they become therapy dogs or their puppyraisers have the opportunity to adopt them.
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