At times, she's used a wheelchair, a walker, or a cane. Whenever Cassie has had to miss school, sometimes for weeks at a time, her mother has studied with her at home. When Cassie couldn't go sledding with her sisters, she and her mother played in the snow or found something else to do. Tale of Two Dogs Debbie Hohman, a kindergarten teacher at Eisenhower, had suggested Cassie's parents contact Canine Companions for Independence, a national organization that trains dogs to assist people with disabilities. Determined to find Cassie a dog before she reached junior high school, when the need would be even greater, Hohman stepped up her efforts last fall and found a family willing to donate their Golden Retriever.
Golden Retrievers make good service dogs because of their intelligence and good temperament.
Martin runs an obedience school out of her home and is friends with Hohman. It would be the second dog Martin trained for such service. The other, a Golden Retriever named Andrew, was a gift to Brook King, a senior at Warsaw Community High School. Brook, no relation to Cassie, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She lives with her grandparents.