• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Client Services Login
  • Current Volunteers

Can Do Canines Assistance Dogs logo

Our Dogs Fetch Amazing Things

  • Our Dogs
          • Assistance Dogs
            • Mobility Assist Dogs
            • Autism Assist Dogs
            • Seizure Assist Dogs
            • Diabetes Assist Dogs
            • Hearing Assist Dogs
            • Facility Dogs
          • How to Apply
            • Assistance Dog FAQs
            • Is an Assistance Dog Right for You?
          • Journey of a Can Do Canine
          • Where Our Dogs Come From
          • Career-Changed Dogs
  • Get Involved
          • Volunteer
            • Dog Hosting Opportunities
            • Campus, Event, and Remote Opportunities
          • Buy Merchandise
          • Spread the Word
          • Donate
            • Sustaining Monthly Gifts
            • Estate and Planned Giving
            • Workplace Giving
            • More Ways to Give
            • Wish Lists
          • Events
            • Fetching Ball Gala
            • Can Do Woofaroo
            • Open House
            • Graduation
            • Pups in Prison Event
            • Corporate Partnerships
  • About
          • About Us
          • Our Humans
          • Our Story
          • Our WAG Center
          • Prison Puppy Program
          • Careers
          • Our Finances & Annual Report
            • Charitable Organization Registration Compliance
          • News
            • Newsletter Archive
          • FAQs for Medical Professionals
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • Our Dogs
          • Assistance Dogs
            • Mobility Assist Dogs
            • Autism Assist Dogs
            • Seizure Assist Dogs
            • Diabetes Assist Dogs
            • Hearing Assist Dogs
            • Facility Dogs
          • How to Apply
            • Assistance Dog FAQs
            • Is an Assistance Dog Right for You?
          • Journey of a Can Do Canine
          • Where Our Dogs Come From
          • Career-Changed Dogs
  • Get Involved
          • Volunteer
            • Dog Hosting Opportunities
            • Campus, Event, and Remote Opportunities
          • Buy Merchandise
          • Spread the Word
          • Donate
            • Sustaining Monthly Gifts
            • Estate and Planned Giving
            • Workplace Giving
            • More Ways to Give
            • Wish Lists
          • Events
            • Fetching Ball Gala
            • Can Do Woofaroo
            • Open House
            • Graduation
            • Pups in Prison Event
            • Corporate Partnerships
  • About
          • About Us
          • Our Humans
          • Our Story
          • Our WAG Center
          • Prison Puppy Program
          • Careers
          • Our Finances & Annual Report
            • Charitable Organization Registration Compliance
          • News
            • Newsletter Archive
          • FAQs for Medical Professionals
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
Home / News / A Lot of Personality

A Lot of Personality

September 25, 2019

Ridge and Peggy

Those who come to Can Do Canines for an assistance dog have varied levels of experience with dogs. Some have never owned one. Others have owned many. But no one has trained four of their own assistance dogs—until Ridge. Since 1998, he’s trained four of his own assistance dogs.

Ridge didn’t develop his disabilities until his late twenties when he contracted meningitis and encephalitis. “They gave me a 5 percent chance of living,” Ridge says. “I spent three months in the hospital where I was locked in and I couldn’t move, eat, or talk. All I could do was blink my eyes to yes or no questions. I could see everything but it was double, and I could hear things but it sounded like it was underwater. It was quiet and distorted.”

As a result, Ridge began gradually losing his hearing and vision. Today, he has trouble processing sounds and can only see with blurred vision around the edge of his field of view through his left eye. He wears hearing aids, an eyepatch over his right eye, and binocular glasses on his left. 

Aside from his hearing and vision challenges, Ridge was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after his time in the hospital. He began to experience trouble walking and random fatigue. 

A year after his hospitalization, Ridge trained his first assistance dog, Logan. Over the years he then trained Wyatt, Clyde, and Angel. 

Today his disabilities have progressed, making it too difficult to train his own assistance dog. “My vision had gotten a little worse, and I couldn’t deal with the distractions like the bunnies when we walk,” Ridge explains. “So I couldn’t redirect a dog before they could pull me down.”

So Ridge came to Can Do Canines and was matched with Peggy. The experience was much different than training his own assistance dog. “She was already trained for me,” Ridge smiles. “She’s awesome. She’s brilliant.”

Peggy, a Black Labrador Retriever, is a Mobility and Hearing Assist Dog. But she also performs tasks to help Ridge with his vision loss. 

While he was waiting to be matched with an assistance dog, Ridge used a guide cane to navigate. Unfortunately, it came with drawbacks. “I had really bad posture because I would look at the ground because I wouldn’t know when a change in elevation was going to be,” Ridge explains. While a cane can help alert someone to a curb or barrier, it can’t detect a change in elevation, throwing someone off balance. 

Now Ridge relies on four furry legs instead of a guide cane. Peggy alerts Ridge to changes in elevation, allowing him to feel more confident and stand up straight. She’s trained to stop and wait at curbs, signaling to Ridge that there’s a step up or a step down. 

And to help with his hearing loss, she alerts Ridge to sounds and shows him where they’re coming from. Now he doesn’t miss door knocks or smoke alarms. 

Bending over puts Ridge at risk of falling, and if he falls, it’s difficult for him to get back on his feet. Peggy picks up what Ridge drops so he doesn’t need to bend over. If he does fall, she retrieves his cane and acts as a brace so he can stand back up.

“I’m not isolated in my apartment,” Ridge explains of his life now with Peggy. “I was really, really depressed without a dog. And she just brings joy back into my life.”

Peggy is a genuinely happy dog, with little quirks and a lot of personality. “When we come in from our walk, her tail doesn’t just wag. It swings back and forth. Like, ‘Yes! We’re home!’” Ridge grins as he imitates Peggy. 

Many organizations charge upwards of $25,000 for a dog or make a client raise a portion of the cost. “I wouldn’t be able to raise that amount of money,” Ridge points out. Because Can Do Canines places their dogs free of charge, this life-changing gift is a possibility for many more people who otherwise couldn’t afford to purchase one. “I can’t think of a better organization to give to,” Ridge assures. 

“Thank you,” he says with a huge smile as he looks down at Peggy. “I really appreciate it. I really do. I really appreciate it.”

Thank you to all those who made this partnership possible:
Great Start Home: The Chelgren family
Puppy Raiser: Jackson Correctional Facility
Special Thanks: Marcia Hjerpe and The Chelgren family
Whelping Home: Kris Kurtz
Breeder Host: Mary & Bill Sears, The Nelson family
You: Thank you for your donations!

Previous Post: « Truly Amazing
Next Post: Love Is in the Air »

Footer

Can Do Canines Assistance Dogs oval logo

Phone iconContact Us

763-331-3000
info@candocanines.org

Map iconLocation

9440 Science Center Drive
New Hope, Minnesota 55428
Directions
Assistance Dogs International Accredited Member websiteCandid. Platinum Transparency 2024 logo  Charities Review Council Meets Standards website

© 2025 Can Do Canines. All Rights Reserved.Contact Us  |  Careers  |  Press Kit  | Accessibility Statement  |  Privacy Policy  |  Site Map

Love reading about my friends?

yellow Lab dog wearing a service dog cape and smiling at camera

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to our e-newsletter