STORY PRODUCED BY CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
The first thing people notice when they walk into Canines for Change isn’t barking, but instead a sense of calm that fills the room with a dozen wagging tails ready to work.
Here, every dog is part of a mission that began with a single corgi and founder Nikki Brown, who felt Lansing classrooms were missing a furry friend.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025, Canines for Change has grown into a statewide nonprofit organization with 75 service and therapy dogs serving schools, hospitals, 911 call centers and community events.
These dogs are more than just pets: They are lifelines for many families.
Brown, who is also the organization’s executive director, has been at the forefront of its mission: changing the lives of communities and families.
It all started with a simple yet powerful thought.
Brown is a school psychologist who was working in Lansing’s Beekman Center, a program for kids with developmental delays.
Many clients used wheelchairs and feeding tubes, and most were nonverbal.
“I thought, ‘I wonder how the kids would react to my dog,’ who was a therapy dog at the time,” Brown said. “I brought him in, and it was just an amazing transformation.”
The results were immediate.
Kids who would bite or bang their heads focused completely on the dog.
Soon, teachers, speech pathologists, therapists and other staff members noticed the changes the dogs were making for the kids and started using Brown’s corgi, Harley, in sessions, getting kids who rarely spoke to open up to the dogs instead.
Brown then tried to get therapy dogs into local schools, but endless worries about liabilities added up.
“The schools were like ‘What if the dog bites somebody?’” Brown said. “We have slides and kids fall off of those, or we have monkey bars and plenty of kids have broken their arms on those, so there has to be a way to do this.”
There was a way. With an intense focus on a COVID lockdown year to write grant proposals, Canines for Change’s growth skyrocketed.
In 2021, it got 25 dogs into schools. Schools in Grand Ledge began putting in a good word to Okemos and East Lansing schools.
After almost five years, its community impact has been invaluable.
At the heart of its success are trainers and volunteers who keep Canines for Change running, dedicating their time and love to every dog.
The process begins when a litter is born.
According to Ashley Gray, a trainer with Canines for Change, the first step is noticing the dog’s temperament.
“Most of what we look for in a service dog is the working temperament part – making sure the dog wants to work and is going to be happy doing that,” Gray said.
“A lot of dogs would not be happy doing a lot of the day-to-day stuff that a service dog does, so we want to make sure that we’re not accidentally making a dog miserable,” she said.
The organization trains mainly labradors and goldendoodles, acknowledging those breeds’ intelligence and drive to work.
This desire to work makes them able to train efficiently to become service or therapy dogs and to thrive in emotionally charged environments.
“We do a lot of community events regarding mental health, which is a big focus of ours,” Gray said.
We were present for the entirety of the [aftermath of the February 2023] Michigan State University shooting. We were there initially with a bunch of our facility dogs, therapy dogs and a few of our in-training dogs to be there for the students,” she said.
Not just dog lovers feel this companionship during emotional moments.
“When you touch a dog, your blood pressure goes down – as long as you’re not afraid of dogs,” Brown said.
“That’s been proven in the medical field. Your body releases oxytocin, which is a kind of feel-good, love hormone in your body and that makes people smile,” she said.
The impact extends far beyond dogs in classrooms.
Service dogs change the lives of people with disabilities and their families, bringing independence to those who need it most.
Puppy raiser Grant Lawton volunteers time raising puppies before they go to families to become service dogs.
He recalls a moment where he felt and saw the impact of Canines for Change firsthand:
“We raised Olly, who is currently a service dog for a girl in Grand Ledge,” Lawton said.
“This person has a seizure disorder, and so she liked to go on the swing out in the yard, but her parents were really worried that if she were to have a seizure on the swing, they would have no way to know,” he said.
“We trained the dog how to hit a button which would ring and let them know inside the house that something was wrong.”
For Brown, Gray and Lawton, these types of stories drive their passion for the organization.
What began with just one corgi and a simple idea is now a community movement impacting lives every day, bringing comfort to classrooms, hospitals and families.
“Dogs don’t give you advice back, but they’re also not judging,” Brown said. “You don’t have to feel weird crying in front of them because they just don’t care. They just love people no matter what.”
