End of Placement Resources

End of Placement Resources

Here are resources provided to clients dealing with the end of their service or facility dog placement through retirement or death. We work with clients for several years before retirement, and talk about retirement during the application process and Team Training, when clients are first placed with their service dogs.

Here is a section focused on scientific research on how to best support clients through the loss of their service or facility dog.

First, a series of 3 papers from a study on Canine Companions clients, through standardized & validated surveys and interviews.

  • Bussolari, C., Currin-McCullouch, J., Packman, W., Kogan, LR, Erdman, P., (2022). The Loss of a Service Dog Through Death: Experiences of Partners. Illness, Crisis & Loss 0(0): Click here: https://doi.org/10.1177/10541373221113336​*
  • Currin-Mcculloch, J., Bussolari, C., Packman, W., Kogan, L., & Erdman, P. (2022). The Loss of a Service Dog Through Retirement: Experiences and Impact on Human Partners. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 11(3), 39–53. Click here: https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2022.0017
  • Kogan, LR, Packman, W., Currin-McCullouch, J., Bussolari, C., Erdman, P. (2021) The Loss of a Service Dog Through Death or Retirement: Experiences and Impact on Partners. Illness, Crisis and Loss: Click here: https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137321105416*

Here is a video summarizing the research on service dog loss & grief. The researchers have given full access to anyone to share and view this video, whether to staff people in your working dog organization or clients around the world.

*Please be aware that by clicking these links you are visiting sites that are not managed by Canine Companions. Website security, accessibility and privacy policies may be different than Canine Companions policies. Please read their policies closely.