Bonnie Bergin

Bonita M. Bergin (also known as Bonnie Bergin) is an American canine researcher. She is the inventor of the concept of the service dog. She is the founder and president of the Bergin University of Canine Studies and the founder of Canine Companions for Independence and Paws for Purple Hearts.

Career

Bergin is a former special education teacher. In her work, she looked "for ways to keep people with disabilities out of institutions". During a trip to Asia in 1975, she saw disabled people using donkeys to assist with transportation and other life needs. Bergin assumed that a dog could perhaps provide people the same assistance. She proposed bringing a dog to the Santa Rosa Disability Center to work with interred people. Bergin went to an animal shelter and adopted a puppy and began training it. That was the first dog she ever trained. Bergin has "trained dogs to do everything from read basic words to identify diseased plants in Napa's vineyards."

Bergin University of Canine Studies

Located in Penngrove, California, Bergin University is the "first and only program in the world that focuses on training dogs and learning about dogs." The school was founded as the Bergin University of Canine Studies The university is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. Students come to Bergin from all over the world, and graduates leave equipped with the skills and knowledge to start their own assistance dog organizations or dog-related businesses.

The school offers Associate, Bachelor and master's degree programs and follows a unique model where students enrolled in the university train assistance dogs with the goal of placing the dogs with people with emotional and physical disabilities. The school offers classes on all aspects of dogs, from genetics to behavior, nutrition and dogs in popular culture.

Paws for Purple Hearts Paws for Purple Hearts was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2011.

Recognition

1993, Distinguished Alumni, Sonoma State University 2010, Hall of Fame, International Association of Canine Professionals