C. O. P. E. Service Dogs

Sherri Hall (Maplelane Golden Retrievers) had the honour to liaison between Ronald McDonald House Charities (George and Susan Cohan) and Jane Boaks, founder of COPE.

Read the write-up in the 2011 Winter Newsletter of C O P E under the article "Patrons and Angels".

Thank you George and Susan for your incredible support to C O P E and give hugs to "Tilly" from the Maplelane Gang. Breaking News ! Tilly is now a Delta Society Therapy Dog" congratulations ! ! !

Sherri Hall, George and Susan Cohan donated Ben(right) in photo to COPE — he has been placed with a wonderful family and we are sure in no time will be devoted to their lovely daughter.

Below is a photo of the pair and as you can see Ben is already fitting right in. You may also visit them at their website: 4 PAWS 4 KRYSTA

Hello Sherri,

My name is Cindy Rossit. I have recently gone through the C.O.P.E. Service Dog program to receive a dog for my 6 year old special needs daughter named Krysta. We are the proud new owners of Maplelane's Gentle Ben. I just wanted to send you a quick note (myself) to thank you so much for donating him to C.O.P.E. We are so lucky to have him as a new member of our family. I have 3 young children (6 years old, 4 years old and an almost 3 years old), and they all love Ben dearly (as do my husband and myself ! ! ! !). Ben is worth his weight in gold and them some!

Krysta was born with a condition called A.C.C. (absence of the corpus callosum). She does not have the bridge of nerves that connect the left and right side of the brain. She is about 2+ years mentally delayed, has fine motor skill issues, muscle tension issues in her legs, extreme behavioural issues as well as bowel complications. Due to her condition Krysta is also a flight risk as she has safety awareness issues. Ben helps her by coaxing her to walk longer distances which is great for her legs. Having her hold a leash attached to Ben when we are out allows me to know that she will not wander away. Krysta has extremely sensitive hearing and would not sit at the dinner table with the famliy because it was "too loud", but now that Ben sits at her feet she eats dinner with us every night. When Krysta has an emotional "meltdown" it used to be half a day at least before she would get back to "normal", now we give her a minute or two and bring Ben to her and she snuggles with him for 5-10 minutes and it's like nothing happened ! ! ! This is what's happened in the first 3 weeks that we have had him home! My family calls him our "miracle dog", and I think that sums it up quite nicely.

He is so wonderful! He is even a stress reliever for me after a long day with the kids! I love him so much!

Thank you again, and please keep in touch.

Best of regards,
Cindy Rossit

Tansy and Canyon (COPE SERVICE DOG) have 2 incredible boys heading to school in September in the hopes of becoming future service dogs. We are all very excited to follow their progress, you can to by monitoring COPE'S web site.

(Right) Maplelane Goldens is also donating 2 of Mercy's boys to COPE, their program requires more dogs than they have in the program. These pups will be leaving to become service dogs. you can follow their progress through the COPE web site.

(Right) Maplelane's Get the Joke, St. John's therapy dog "Molson" is the proud father of this future service Dog "Big Mac". "Mac" (shown in picture) is proudly sponsored by Ronald McDonald House Children's Charity.

C.O.P.E. receives $30,000 donation.

It was with deep gratitude that C.O.P. E. accepted a $30,000 cheque from the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Canada. On hand to celebrate the generous donation was (left to right) Susan Cohon, wife of George Cohon, (RMHC); Selina Frederick, C.O.P. E.'s public relations director; Devon Friedman, RMHC's manager of communications and development; Jane Boake, C.O.P. E.'s founder; Debbie Gilbert, C.O.P. E.'s executive director; and George Cohon, RMHC's founder.

Mr. Cohon has been a longtime supporter of C.O.P. E. Of course, there were lots of C.O.P. E. puppies on hand to celebrate the great day. The cheque, presented in November 2009, is being used to sponsor three puppies — McFlurry, Big Mac, and Golden Arches. C.O.P. E. would also like to acknowledge the on-going support of Rory McKinnon, franchise owner of McDonald's Restaurants in Alliston and Angus. Further gratitude is extended to Jason O'Neal, franchise owner of McDonald's Restaurants in Barrie and Bradford.

(All dogs and pups are Maplelane Goldens breeding)