Parkland family fosters service dog
On her bucket list since childhood (along with travel and giving back), Parkland resident Joanna Goriss finally checked off one of her boxes — becoming a volunteer puppy raiser through a California-based organization called Canine Companions.
The nonprofit, founded in 1975, provides expertly trained service dogs — primarily Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, and crosses of the two — to enhance independence for people with disabilities. The organization has approximately 4,300 volunteers across the country.
The dogs, bred by volunteer breeders in California, are shipped to families across the U.S. at 8 weeks of age.
“Raising Noki for 18 months has been so rewarding for our family,” says Goriss, a realtor.
She and her husband, Jeff Goriss, who works in corporate finance, are the parents of Landry, 9, and London, 7, students at Somerset Parkland Academy. They received Noki in March 2020, on the last commercial flight into Fort Lauderdale just as the pandemic hit.
As volunteer puppy raisers, the family was responsible for training the puppy, and for expenses such as food and vet visits.
Once Noki left the Gorris home, he went to Orlando for puppy college and to train to become a full-fledged service dog — turning off lights and putting on socks for his charges.
If all goes well, after six months, Noki will graduate. Only 50 percent of all puppies actually graduate. The Gorisses plan to attend Noki’s graduation and walk with him across the stage.
“Canine Companions is very organized,” says Goriss. “Almost 400 dogs graduate each year. We’re a big family and stay in touch with other volunteers. It’s extremely rewarding. It warms your heart to know that you are making a difference in someone’s life. You cannot put a price on it.”
When her son was younger, he spent three and a half years in treatment for leukemia at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. Because of that, Goriss says, he is empathetic to others with health or physical limitations.
“We’re grateful for each day because tomorrow is not promised,” says Goriss. “We try and make a difference with our volunteer efforts.”
The couple volunteer at Miami Make-A-Wish (“very near and dear to our heart”) and volunteered at the fifth annual Make-A-Wish Ball, which raised over $1 million.
“We have a neighbor with cerebral palsy and another in a wheelchair,” says Goriss. “So my kids understand the purpose of having a service dog.”
Because of this, they were able to part with Noki without too much grief. “We didn’t find it sad to give him up because we knew he would be going on to help someone else,” Goriss says. “We raised a superhero.”
However, Noki left a void, and the family is looking forward to raising a new puppy.
Ashton Roberts, Canine Companion’s program manager in Orlando, says, “There’s no strict criteria to become a volunteer puppy raiser. You need to walk the dog on a leash and comply with the program rules.”
For more information on Canine Companions, visit canine.org.