Judy Fridono

Judy Fridono

Judy Fridono is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, service dog trainer, and Executive Director of Puppy Prodigies Neo-natal & Early Learning Program (www.puppyprodigies.org).  Puppy Prodigies is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is designed to provide puppies with a long-term advantage at an early age in an effort to decrease the number of dogs that are released from assistance dog training programs due to temperament or behavior issues.  In addition, our initiatives help reduce the number of pet dogs that are relinquished to animal shelters for behavior related problems. 

The philosophy behind Puppy Prodigies is very simple… we're passionate about puppy development.  Education and training builds futures and we believe it's a great way to start a young puppy on his career path. We specialize in providing the education and resources that facilitate early learning which helps puppies prepare for life long success
The mission of Puppy Prodigies is to build the foundation for future teamwork by providing puppies with early interventional learning opportunities and environmental influences at critical stages of development in an effort to positively affect behavioral tendencies which will ultimately enhance their life, as well as their human counterpart’s.  As a result of this effort, our objective is to provide our “prepped” puppies to owner-trainers, assistance dog, and other canine training organizations with the goal of decreasing the number of dogs that are released from programs due to temperament or behavior issues.  We also strive to reduce the number of pet dogs that are relinquished to animal shelters for behavior related problems. 
I have a bachelor's degree and my previous corporate life included a career in healthcare administration/business development.  I've also received certificates from San Francisco's Hearing Dog Program and the Marin Humane Society's Canine Behavior Academy.  I'm a certified professional dog trainer, and know the value of education, so I stay current on the latest training techniques, and attend many seminars each year taught by some top professionals in the field of dog training.  I stay abreast on the research of puppy development, which includes interaction with animal behavior researchers so I can make adaptations to the program as necessary.

RICOCHET
Ricochet was born into the Puppy Prodigies program with the goal of becoming a service dog.  At a young age, Ricochet started showing signs of prey drive, by wanting to chase small animals and birds.  Judy worked with Ricochet for 18 months trying to train her to control her impulse to chase.  They were pretty successful, but it became clear that it would be too risky to match Ricochet with a person with a disability in the event her instinct took over. 

About the same time Judy was trying to train Ricochet NOT to chase birds, a local service dog organization, Pawsitive Teams was in the process of matching one of their service dogs, Kona with a 15 year old boy named Patrick.  When Patrick was a child, his life changed in a split second when a car ran over him, pinning him underneath.  Patrick suffered a C4-5 incomplete spinal cord injury, and was diagnosed as a quadriplegic, and has used a wheelchair ever since.



Judy was very disappointed that Ricochet couldn’t continue in the role she was born for, but rather than focus on what she couldn’t do, Judy focused on what she COULD do.  One of the things Ricochet does well is surf.  Judy wondered how she could make Ricochet’s surfing meaningful, and Surfin’ for Paws-abilities was born (http://www.ripcurlricki.com/SurfinforPawsabilities.htm).  Ricochet now surfs for charitable causes through her surfing.  She went from service dog to SURFice dog.
As fate would have it... one of Patrick's favorite activities is adaptive surfing.  Yes... Patrick surfs! He's an amazing kid!!  So, it seemed like destiny that my little surfer girl's first fund raiser would be for this young surfer boy.  
In late August Patrick and Ricochet got together, and completed the first ever tandem surfing ride between an adaptive surfer and a dog!  Ricochet became a different dog that day in the water… it was like she was born to do exactly what she was doing… being a SURFice dog!

Judy became a different person in the water that day too, as she realized you can’t control another being’s life.  She was hard on Ricochet for the first 18 months of her life, trying to make her something she wasn’t.  But, once she let go, and let destiny run its course, amazing things started to happen.

Ricochet has raised over $8200 for Patrick, and is still actively fundraising for him.  She was able to raise enough money to pay for his service dog, and the rest goes toward his physical therapy at Project Walk (www.projectwalk.org).

The plan now, is for Ricochet and Patrick to work together to help others in need… and pay it forward.

 

Puppy Prodigies