POULSBO — Falcon, a golden retriever, curls up around Kellie Carion’s legs. He’s a dog, like any other. He loves car rides and long walks. Falcon is also a highly trained canine assistant for Carion’s l8-year-old son, Alex.

“He loves everybody,” Carion said. “Falcon has been trained for every kind of assistance. He was taught to open, close doors and retrieve things that have fallen and he tends to do that, especially with socks.”

When Alex was about 12, his mother wanted to look into getting him a service dog.

“I wanted to try and get the dog for Alex, something he can transition with into becoming a teenager and an adult,” Carion said. Alex was born with a rare disorder called cerebellar hypoplasia. He was born without a cerebellum and with an abnormal brain stem. This disorder affects his equilibrium and his speech.

“He didn’t walk until he was 4. He has had a lot of balance issues,” she said. “I wanted for him to learn the responsibility of taking care of someone else other than himself and seeing the importance of that.”

Unfortunately, each attempt for a service dog came up empty. A lot of the local organizations had age restrictions, only assisting older children or adults.

It was a trip to Disneyland that changed everything. There, they encountered a wheelchair-bound child with a service dog. When the Carions approached the family, they learned about Canine Assistants. It is a nonprofit organization that places service dogs with children and adults with physical disabilities and other special needs.

It only took the Carions six months to get approved for their service dog, Falcon. Once approved, they had to go on a two-week trip to Alpharetta, Ga., where most of the Canine Assistants dogs are born, raised and trained.

“It was like going to camp for two weeks,” Carion said. “It was a lot of work though.”

In the first week they were taught how to interact with the dog, while the second week involved going on outings and getting comfortable in public situations like grocery stores and a mall. They brought Falcon home in August 2005 when Alex was about 14.

Falcon has allowed Alex all the freedoms of independence without being alone. He has given Alex confidence and security infused with companionship. There was an unexpected positive with Falcon giving Alex the opportunity to meet people.

“Normally I don’t think he would interact so much with people because of his speech delay, so that has been a really positive thing,” Carion said.

Falcon has become more than just a service dog.

“He is a good thing to me and I like to take care of him a lot,” Alex said.

The family volunteers for Canine Assistants by providing presentations for new recipients in the area. The presentations are usually at pet stores, but they recently gave one at the commissary at Fort Lewis.

“Military commissary is one of our biggest supporters and they give money specifically for military families to be recipients of Canine Assistant dogs,” Carion.

Alex and Falcon both enjoy doing the presentations.

“It gets me out of school,” Carion said.

Milk-Bone has been one of the biggest promoters this year and is currently talking to the Carions about doing a TV commercial for Canine Assistants.

Besides spending their time supporting Canine Assistants, the Carions love to travel. Like a member of the family, Falcon goes along. Whenever the family flies, Falcon is allowed to ride in the airplane cabin with Alex.

“He’s always very popular with the flight attendants,” Carion said.

There have been instances during their travels where Falcon has received special treatment: the pilot taking him off the plane for a potty break and the flight attendants walking him down the aisles, to name a couple.

He has traveled to Florida, California and Arizona always by Alex’s side, where he’s been for nearly the last five years.