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The Mira Foundation (Fondation Mira) is a Quebec-based community-based non-profit organization. which pursues the following stated objective: This organization aims "to bring greater autonomy to handicapped people and to facilitate their social integration by providing them with [guide and service] dogs that have been fully trained to accommodate each individual's needs of adaptation and rehabilitation." Mira assistance dogs are provided free of charge to disabled persons. All of this is done free of charge to the people being provided with these dogs.

History
The organization was founded in 1981 by its CEO Éric St-Pierre. "Mira Foundation services are offered to anyone presenting with one or more of the following disabilities: visual, auditory and physical." The name MIRA actually came from one of the first two guide-dogs that Éric St- Pierre had trained. The dog was a female Labrador named Mirabelle, also known as, Mira. When creating the foundation, St-Pierre decided that he wanted to honor this dog thus naming the foundation MIRA.

MIRA is a first organization of its kind. Before, MIRA children that were younger than 18 were not allowed to have a guide-dog. Eric St-Pierre did not like that concept and he believed that everybody should be given the same opportunity so when he created Mira, St-Pierre made the foundation for children ages 11 and up. Mira was the only foundation to do this.

MIRA has its head office and training facilities are located in Sainte-Madeleine, Quebec.

Among supporters and spokespeople of the Mira Foundation have been Québécois actors Robert Brouillette, Roy Dupuis, Jean L'Italien, and Stéphane Rousseau.

In 2009 MIRA was expanded from Canada to the USA. Robert Baillie had a total vision loss because of complications during a heart by-pass surgery.Baillie’s close friends, Guy and Francine Bouvier, suggested that he try and find a guide-dog. Baillie then found Mira Canada. MIRA Canada changed Baillie’s life significantly. When he realized that in the United States guide dogs were unavailable to younger children also, Robert and his wife Elaine Baillie and his friend Guy Bouvier decided to fund MIRA USA.

MIRA USA is exactly like MIRA Canada. The goal is to enhance the lives of blind children and help them get their independence. The two groups formed an official partnership that allowed them to work together to expand guide dog services for children. Though the two organizations work together they are legally separate. All decisions are made separately, although MIRA USA does count on MIRA Canada’s training expertise.

MIRA USA has its headquarters in North Carolina.

Selection Process
There is a selection process for both the children and the dogs used for services. For the children and adults, in order to qualify they have to have a visual problem, be in good physical shape, show skills in interacting with the dog and have a high activity level. For the dog, in order to be selected it must be “courageous and confident all the time, highly tolerant…tireless…vigilant, and imaginative. Forty percent of MIRA dogs are actually disqualified because “standards are nonetheless excellent for the selected dogs”

Types of dogs used
MIRA uses mainly Labradors and Bernese, which they mix to get the Labernese. However, they do use Golden Retrievers, Golden Labrador and poodles sometimes. The facility breeds its own dogs and very rarely will take any from outside sources. This enhances the amount of ‘acceptable’ dogs that come out of breeding. In order for MIRA to take a dog from an outside source it has to be purebred and cannot be sterilized.

Training process: just dog
All MIRA dogs are fostered out at the beginning stages of their life. At 9 weeks of age the puppy will be with a foster family until on average 18 months. While living with the foster family the puppy is to be socialized and exposed to a variety of environments regularly. This is done to try and make it where the puppy can react to any situation.

There are many guidelines the foster family must follow. The family must housebreak the puppy, teach it basic commands, to chew on toys, to lie on the floor and to eat dog food. Essentially the family is responsible for making the puppy be a pleasant companion.

Since MIRA is a non-profit organization all of the foster families are volunteers. They do not get paid for their work. Mira does provide certain services though. They provide dog food, veterinary care, a collar, leash, scarf, and a letter that says the puppy is Mira’s so it can have access to public places.

After 18 months of age the dogs will then undergo a series of tests to see if they qualify to be a guide-dog.These tests include the simple commands and also a test of behavior so the trainer can get a feel for what the dog could be used for, if at all.

Training Process: dog and owner
If the dogs qualify to be guide-dogs the next training process is actually with the child or adult they will be with. The training process is an extensive 30 day class. Through a fun and playful learning strategy, they have class and individual activities that “follow a learning sequence that begins with the simplest tasks, then progresses gradually to the most complex”. By the end, the recipient will have obtained the skills they need in order to work with a dog and take care of themselves in a regulated outdoor environment. This unique training process allows for the recipient to be placed in real-life situations for them to be able to learn how to make decisions. The whole process is done with the dog they will be receiving so they can get to know it and learn how to interact with it.

The children's process is the exact same as that of the adults, just more extensive.

Once the class is over, the recipient will return home along with their dog. The sole users have to be the children. Training staff will frequently monitor and guide the recipient to help them use what they learned and actually do it. The training staff can be as needed or regularly scheduled. Throughout this whole process, the dogs are always off leash. They are trained to stay at the child or adult's side at all times.

Capabilities of MIRA dogs
MIRA dogs are trained to open doors. The door handles either have to be levers or have a cloth attached to them. They also know how to work automatic doors which means they know how to push the buttons of doors. The dog can also bring the owner just about anything the owner requests. These include but are not limited to keys, utensils, walking aids, bank cards, glasses, containers, coins, clothes, gloves, boots and slippers. These dogs bring stability to homes of the children and adults who own them.

MIRA dogs can be used as guide-dogs, service dogs, promotional dogs, and breeding dogs. All of MIRA’s dogs have many varied abilities and are all very well trained and equipped.

MIRA dogs are trained to disobey commands that are deemed dangerous for either the adult or child it is wit. They are also taught not to be distracted by other people or their surroundings.