Rick Hairston co-founded Carolina Canines in December of 1996 after having volunteered for an internationally recognized service dog organization in St. Louis, Missouri for several years. He has supervised and/or trained 100 service dogs, has numerous service dogs in training, and has registered 400 Animal Assisted Therapy Teams. He has provided training to over 500 individuals and their pets in basic and intermediate obedience and has facilitated several local High School programs for teens at risk since 2001. Rick has received the Duke University Continuing Studies Non-Profit Management Certificate. Rick is involved in many aspects of dog training. He holds certification and memberships in the following: Certified dog obedience instructor, a American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, Certified R.E.A.D.® instructor (Reading Education Assistance Dogs a program of Intermountain Therapy Animals), member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Member of International Association of Canine Professionals.
Recently acknowledged by Everyday Hereos, The Positive World for his work in the community, click here.
Pat Hairston is the Program Manager for Carolina Canines. Before joining CCFS as a staff member in 2004, she was a key volunteer with the organization for two and a half years, assisting in the office, at events and coordinating volunteers. Her career started in the pharmaceutical industry with over 20 years experience in corporate America. She pulls from her expertise in project planning, management and operations to carry out the daily functions of CCFS.
Pat is very involved in the Therapy program as a registered Carolina Canines for Therapy team with her Airedale Terrier, Delta Mae and a Carolina Canines for Therapy Team Assessor, Certified R.E.A.D.® instructor (Reading Education Assistance Dogs a program of Intermountain Therapy Animals). In 2007, she authored A Job for Arabella, the story of Arabella, a rescued pound puppy, who realizes her dream of becoming a service dog.
Pat was recently appointed to serve on the GuideStar User Advisory Panel.
Laura Kranchalk has been a volunteer with our organization as a Canines for Therapy (CFT) team since March of 2004 with her dog Lambert. When Lambert retired, she then completed her CFT training with Blazer. Laura has been an advocate and dedicated team for our Canines for Literacy (formerly Paws for Reading) program in the elementary schools and is a Certified R.E.A.D.® instructor (Reading Education Assistance Dogs a program of Intermountain Therapy Animals). Laura joined our staff in April 2009 and utilizes her corporate and retail experience as our Office Manager helping with management of the office and working with our all important volunteers.Laura Conn, a graduate of College of Charleston, joined the team in a volunteer capacity to learn service dog training helping with the Canines for Veterans program. Her dream was to become a service dog trainer and she was working on enrolling in a west coast school. After a few short months Laura joined the
team in a part time capacity and in September of 2012 she was offered and accepted the position of Instructor-Service Dog Technician. Laura earned her U.S. Dept of Labor Certificate of Apprenticeship in Service Dog Technician working side-by-side with the military prisoners. Laura can be seen around the Charleston community at the many events she attends on behalf of our programs and is almost always handling a service dog in training. Caroline O'Brien started volunteering as a foster puppy parent in the service dog training program in 2007. She raised one service dog from puppy to adult that is partnered with their person. Her interests and skills lead her to trained the advanced service dog skills. In 2011, Caroline joined our staff in a part-time capacity to assist with the service dog training classes, working with foster families and team training with our civilian clients. Caroline also volunteers in our Canines for Literacy program using her background working with children to help children in our community.