Darlene Sullivan

Darlene Sullivan

Mrs. Sullivan is a resident of Cochranville, Pennsylvania where she resides with her husband and son.  She has a bachelor’s degree in Special Education from West Chester University and prior to founding Canine Partners For Life (CPL) in 1989, taught for 3 1/2 years at The Centreville School, a private school for children with Learning Disabilities. 

Mrs. Sullivan founded CPL following a life long interest in working dogs.  Her background includes 30 years of professional animal training, 25 years working closely with the rehabilitative aspects of working with people who have disabilities, and additional master’s level coursework in business and non-profit management.  She served for six years as the Secretary for Assistance Dogs International, a coalition organization which establishes the standards, ethics, testing and accreditation procedures for the assistance dog industry.  She currently served on the Board of Assistance Dogs International North America and was the founding chair of the Advocacy and Access Committee.

When founding CPL, Mrs. Sullivan focused on creating a high quality organization dedicated to producing successful service teams and providing life-long follow-up to those teams.  Always, her commitment has been to increase the independence of people who have disabilities through the use of service dogs.

In 1998, Mrs. Sullivan’s own disability, Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, forced her to accept the reality that her own level of independence was being compromised.  At that time she applied to the organization, which she had founded and directed, to receive her own service dog.  Shortly thereafter she was matched with her service dog Nelson.  When Nelson retired after a nine year partnership he continued to live with Darlene while Ripley stepped into his shoes to become her successor dog.  Ripley and Darlene have been working together now for almost 5 years.

Currently, Mrs. Sullivan serves as the Executive Director of the organization, which has an annual budget of just over 1 million dollars.  She oversees a staff of 12 full time and five part time employees, and supports the Board of Directors in the management of the organization.  There are an estimated 300 volunteers involved at different levels within the organization which produces 20-25 full service dogs and 10-15 home companion dogs annually.  CPL places service dogs nationwide and is respected as a leader within the assistance dog industry.  The organization is the largest service dog provider on the east coast and is one of very few organizations to place service dogs with children.  In addition, CPL is the largest provider of seizure alert dogs worldwide.  CPL is a twenty one year voting member and is accredited by Assistance Dogs International.

About Canine Partners for Life:

Canine Partners For Life (CPL) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to training service dogs, home companion dogs, and residential companion dogs to assist individuals who have a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities. Based in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, CPL places service dogs nationwide. Home companion dogs are generally placed within a 250-mile radius of the campus (sometimes further) and residential companions are placed within a 100-mile radius of the campus.
Each CPL dog receives a comprehensive and customized training program to meet the specific needs of their human partner. Depending on the assigned program, the dog will receive up to two years of training before being trained to work with its person. CPL has one of the strongest follow-up programs in the industry to ensure the success of each team throughout the lifetime of the partnership.
Founded in 1989 by Executive Director Darlene Sullivan, Canine Partners for Life has placed more than 400 Teams of service dogs and recipients.  These consist of Full Service, Alert and Home Companion Dogs.

Our Full Service dogs assist the recipient with everything from retrieval and balance, to opening doors and paying for items at the store.  The Alert dogs are placed with recipients who have seizures or cardiac conditions.  There is no way to train a dog to alert to a specific condition, but some dogs truly have the ‘gift’ of knowing when a person’s body chemistry is about to change.  For the Home Companion Program, the dogs stay in the home, yet many are proficient with service skills and make great comrades.

Canine Partners for Life holds two major fundraisers per year; a Spring Event/Wine Auction (which includes dinner and raffle items) and a Fall Open House.  This year’s Open House was held on Saturday, September 10th at our location, 334 Faggs Manor Rd, Cochranville, PA 19363. 

Check us out online at:  www.k94life.org

Canine Partners for Life