Sip Northwest, Winter 2015
6 SIPNORTHWEST COM years ago through her neighbor who was a dog raiser After attending an information session and hearing fi rst hand from clients who have had a dog assigned she was hooked In addition to the obvious of opening doors pulling off socks picking up items dropped on the fl oor and retrieving the telephone the client noted that the dog also broke down social barriers Coletta says People used the dog as a reason to approach the client in a wheelchair and engage in conversation The dog was an icebreaker so to speak Next thing I knew I was on the board Coletta isnt one to shy away from challenge moving from an acutely successful wine marketing and client management career to co founding the groundbreaking Okanagan Crush Pad with her husband Steve Lornie From the architecturally stunning crush facility Coletta and Lornie also oversee their own label Haywire a needle mover in terroir centric wines in the Okanagan Valley Coletta and her team have sponsored and welcomed in three winery dogs to date Summerland Garnet and Gamay Summerland is currently in advanced training Garnet was released and now lives with one of the companys longtime employees and Gamay is still a pup in training Over the years OCP has acted as sitters for hundreds of dogs some for a few days some for a few months One of Colettas own dogs Acadia is a released PADS dog and a constant friendly sight at the winery Puppy raisers look after the fi rst year 10 to 14 months of a PADS puppys training by housing and caring for the dog and attending weekly training classes and then reinforcing constantly the learning at home It is a rewarding workable and time heavy formula that has worked for a quarter of a century with easily measurable results PADS dogs have changed lives More than beautiful healthy companions they are specially trained to aid people The non profi t society continues to support their client dog teams for the working life of the PADS dog In addition to the lengthy training process OCP has held fundraising events for PADS over the past few years Sit Stay Sip is a buzzy wine and food event in Vancouver and Puppies on the PAD is a popular summer event that takes place at the winery 13 Rotating Taps with Growlers to Go Over 400 different bottles of craft beers ciders Dog friendly SeattleBeerAuthority com 206 417 9629
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