If you have read my columns for a while, you know I am an animal lover! In particular, dogs catch my eye and grab my heart. Roger Caras, former voice of the Westminster Kennel Club Show, has said, "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."

Dogs have made my family's life more complete. We currently have three dogs - a golden retriever and two goldendoodles. Through the years we have raised 10 service dog puppies-in-training for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). If you like dogs and understand that with training and coaching they can become helpmates for people with disabilities, this is a wonderful volunteer activity for you and your family. It blends the joy of a puppy with the discipline of caring for and developing a dog. CCI tells each puppy raiser that we are a big part of the miracle that these dogs create when they are paired with a person with a disability. The bond of trust, love, and service that the dog forms with its new master is a wonder to behold. I sometimes think of it as watching the partnership in a beautiful, intimate dance.

CCI places specially-bred puppies when they are about eight weeks old. Foster families provide them a good home, take them to obedience classes, feed them a healthy diet, create socialization opportunities, and give lots of love for a year or so. Thereafter the dogs return to CCI for advanced skills training that will ready them for tasks such as opening doors, fetching items, removing socks, switching lights on and off, and supporting with companionship.

Dogs are amazing when developed and challenged. While CCI's focus is service dogs, I never cease to be amazed by how other dogs serve the blind or hearing-impaired, sniff bombs or other combustible materials, detect drugs, discern the onset of seizures, discover cancer cells through odor, provide search and rescue, herd sheep and livestock, hunt and retrieve, pursue criminals, bring companionship in firehouses, stables, senior residences, and homes. This list can surely go on.

We have Brett II right now, a CCI golden retriever. He has been our joy since January 2009 and will return to the CCI training center this May. We have worked him through car sickness; he has learned to go to work and church with us, volunteered as a reading dog for Paws to Read at the Glendale Library, often been seen at restaurants in Broad Ripple.

When I think about volunteer puppy-raising experiences and contemplate the significance of service dogs in the lives of the disabled, my heart swells. Yes, dogs continually make our lives whole.