Releases and Press Conferences
This page will be used to make available the latest information with regards to this site the foundation upcoming press conferences and any news items that concern Service Dogs.
Smokey's Helping Paws Foundation will be holding it's First news conference on Sept 28, 1999 at 11:00 am. The purpose of this conference is to let the public know about the school and the fact that:
Assistance Dogs
Hearing Ear Dogs
Seizure Alert/Response dogs
Service Animals IN TRAINING
Do not have the legal right to be trained in public. This is something that we really need to have, in order to see that our dogs are exposed to as much of the real world as possible. Canadian law only protects Seeing Eye Dogs. We are hoping to educate the public and show them that these dogs are in fact, very well trained.
Excerpt from the Edmonton Journal Tuesday 28 September 1999
Chris Zdeb, Journal Staff Writer
Service dogs need rights Trained canine treated differently than seeing eye dogs Smokey the dog gets no respect. So Debbie Lees is fighting to get her some. Smokey is a service dog that is specially trained to help her owner, who has restricted movement. Other service dogs serve as theirs of the hearing impaired or have learned to respond when some one has a seizure. But unlike their seeing-eye brethren, service dogs do not have the legal right to accompany and assist their owners in public. Lees, a military wife, encountered few problems while her husband Kevin was stationed at Borden, Ontario. Most services were contained on the base where she and her dog were well-known and were able to access all public places, even though proprietors would have been within their right to bar Smokey. However when her husband was transferred to Edmonton in 1996, no one had ever heard of a service dog and Smokey was ordered out of a few public places. Lees and Smokey, a five-year-old Spitz mix, have been a team since 1994. Lees, who has poor elasticity of the skin, had just undergone a third operation to remove scar tissue built up in her lower spine. The surgery revealed some of the scaring had impacted on her nerve tissue where it could not be removed Some days, she says the pain of 10 child births would be easier to bear than the back pain that plagues her. Her legs can buckle at any time, limiting her mobility in public and requiring her to use a cane or wheel chair. Husband Kevin says her condition is deteriorating and she spends almost 90 per cent of her time at home in the chair as well. Lees has trained Smokey to pick things up for her, to pull a shirt out of a dresser and shake it out for her, to put on and pull off her socks for her and to speed dial for help in an emergency. Kevin said he worries less about his wife when he has to ship out on peace keeping missions, knowing she as Smokey with her. A human aide would not be able to provide round-the-clock are, he said. Lees said her canine aide is not a threat to her independence and gives her unconditional love. Woman and dog have been separated twice. Smokey once stayed overnight at the vet's office Lees once had to be hospitalized for 24 hours. When she first arrived at the hospital, nobody knew if Smokey could come in. Lees subsequently found out the Capital Health authority would require three months written notice prior to being admitted to a private room. Lees would also have to come with help to take her dog out hen required. The separations left Lees and Smokey anxious, he said. I don't want anyone else to experience what I have, and I personally don't want to experience it again if Kevin is transferred to another province where they don't know what a service dog is, Lees said Monday from her Griesbach home, Smokey curled up at her feet. She wants legislation enacted similar to the legislation that has been adopted by most U.S. states. Researching government files, Lees found an amendment to the Alberta Blind Persons' Rights Act of 1983 which would have included hearing dogs, but it was never enacted Her calls and emails to Mayor Bill Smith remain unanswered, but Lees found an ally in her MP, Deborah Grey. I think laws should help the disabled, not hinder them, Grey said. So if people are able to get service dogs and assistance animals, let's go for it and make it as easy as possible for these people to function in the day-to-day world. Debbie and Kevin Lees are in the process of establishing Smokey's Helping Paws Foundation, a non-profit organization that plans to take mature dogs from the SPCA and turn them into service dogs. For more information about their million-dollar dream and their fight for equality for service dogs, check out their email group: Smokey's Helping Paws Foundation Held it's second Press conference on March 6, 2000.We where interviewed by CFRN TV, A-CHANNEL, ITV.
We also did Live at Noon on CFRN on Tues. March 7, 2000. We had Sayde and Dusty our newest working team in the spot light because we felt it was important for everyone to realizes that this issue does not only impact adult but it has a much greater impact on the children there families who choose to use the Aid of a Service dogs. Our dogs have and will change these children lives for the better.
This can not happen these children have to fight harder than most of us and why would we add another road block.
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Smokey's Assistance Dogs Foundation
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Revised: June 26, 2005
