GUILDERLAND — Thirteen-year-old Danny Gibney has helped train his dog, Gem, to know 30 different commands, including “down,” “roll over,” and “speak.” He has done all of that in order to give her away to a stranger. 

Three years ago, Danny Gibney’s older brother, Will, received a service dog, Toshi, to help him with his autoimmune disorders. Will’s family vowed at the time that they would raise a puppy in the same program to benefit another recipient. 

They needed to have Will’s dog for a year before they could be approved by Canine Companions for Independence to raise a puppy, said the boys’ mother, Dr. Laura Assaf, a psychologist with Capital Psychology in Guilderland. 

Since the Gibney-Assaf family was approved a year-and-a-half ago, Danny, 13, has been raising and training, with the help of his family, the dog they often call “Gemmy.” Her full name is Gem V, because she is the program’s fifth dog by that name. Small and black, she is a cross between a Labrador and a golden retriever.

“This was inspired by Toshi’s puppy raiser,” said Assaf. 

“No, I just wanted a dog,” interjected Danny while hanging out in the backyard swimming pool with his brother and their two dogs on a recent very warm day. 

Whenever a plastic toy was thrown into the pool, Toshi would take off after it, while Gem watched from the pool stairs. Each time, Toshi would swim to the stairs, holding the toy in his jaws, while Gem watched intently from the stairs. Then, at just the right moment, as Toshi ascended, Gem took it from him.

“She lets him do all the work,” Assaf said with a laugh, watching the dogs clamber playfully over one another. 

On Aug. 9, Danny, Gem, and the family will travel to CCI’s Northeast Training Center in the town of Medford on Long Island for a matriculation ceremony, where they will hand Gem over for six months of the advanced training she needs to become a licensed service dog.

All of the puppy-raising families will bring their dogs up onto a stage. Each dog will wear a cape to “show what little heroes they are,” said Assaf.

Then everyone will watch a video of the dogs’ puppyhood. Each family will receive a puppy-raising certificate. 

Danny and his family will not see Gem for six months, until they travel to Medford again, this time to hand her over to the recipient and say goodbye. 

No one knows at this point who Gem’s recipient will be, Assaf explained. It could be a child with intellectual or developmental disabilities or physical disabilities who needs a dog as a skilled companion.

Or it could be someone who requires full physical assistance from a dog — requiring, for instance, help with standing while putting on prosthetic limbs. Then too, it could be someone who needs Gem to hear for him.

Or it could be a facility where Gem would live with the clinician and report to work each day to serve all the clients. 

“I could see Gemmy doing that,” said Danny of the last option. 

“She’d be very well suited to that,” his mother agreed. “And she’s small.” Her small size means that, while she may not turn out to have the power for full physical assistance, she may set people at ease. 

All the dogs in the program are crosses between Labrador and golden retrievers, Assaf said. “They take the work motivation of a Labrador, and add the sweetness of a golden. 

“Her temperament is so great — we know she can truly help someone else. She’s attentive, highly social, and the happiest dog I’ve ever seen,” said Assaf. 

The family knows how much Toshi has helped Will. “He’s the healthiest he’s ever been,” says his mother. 

Socialization 

During the 18 months Gem has lived with his family, Danny has gone to puppy classes and had a trainer come to the house to coach him in how to train her. He and the rest of his family have brought Gem all the places they go, to expose her to as wide a variety of experiences as possible. 

The most important role the family has played in her training, said Assaf, is in socializing Gem. According to the organization’s rules, CCI puppies can’t be left at home all day while parents go out to work.

The dogs need to be with someone all day, to make the most of the 18 months. Whenever the dog goes out in public, she must be with an adult handler; if the service she provides involves helping a child, the child also needs to be present whenever the dog is out in public, Assaf explained. 

The family has taken Gem to visit every stimulating environment that she may experience later, Assaf said: preschools, sporting events, hospitals, even Farnsworth Middle School at dismissal time, to accustom her to new environments and help her learn to concentrate amid distractions. 

“It’s really preparing them for whatever their life is going to look like and what the needs of that recipient will be,” Assaf explained. 

Weekdays, Assaf takes Gem to Capital Psychology, where Assaf works with children. “Gem loves children,” she said. “She intuitively knows when a child is afraid of dogs, and she will stay on her bed in the background.” 

Her husband and the boys’ stepfather, Michael Assaf, sometimes takes Gem to his law firm, where she has comforted clients. 

Asked how he feels about handing over the dog, Danny said, “I’m not happy about it, but then we’re getting a new dog in September.” 

Someday, when he grows up, he would like to have a dog that he can keep, Danny said. 

In September, the family will receive another puppy to raise for 18 months. That puppy is from a litter that was born at the beginning of July; it will arrive at Albany International Airport on Sept. 4, when it is old enough to leave its mother. 

“Why do we have to wait until September, again?” Danny asked his mother, even though it was clear he had heard the answer before.