Barbara Henry’s wide range of talents are rivaled only by her strength and tenacity. Barbara spent many years dedicating herself to providing therapeutic horseback riding lessons to children struggling with developmental disabilities or who were residing in the Colorado foster care system. Her family’s life was irrevocably changed by the tragedy of two randomly bizarre, unrelated events that would leave Barbara struggling to overcome a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and her youngest daughter, Caitlin, living with the effects of a spinal cord injury.
Unwilling to sacrifice her independence, Caitlin insisted that she have a service dog when she was 8 years old. Barbara discovered that acquiring a service dog for a child would not be an easy task. Most well-known organizations charge substantial fees and either require children to be at least twelve years of age or suffer from a terminal diagnosis.
In 2006, Barbara combined her years of horse training experience and her unique perspective and moved into the world of persons with disabilities. She began training her daughter’s first service dog, Badger. The process would include hundreds of hours of public access training, participation in a local owner/trained service dog program and regular class attendance at Caitlin’s elementary school.
Ultimately, Badger spent 6 years by Caitlin’s side attending every important event, from school field trips and family vacations to doctor appointments and hospital stays. She began her gentle transition into retirement in 2012.
During her time in service, Badger assisted Caitlin with mobility by pulling her wheelchair, helping her walk, stabilizing her balance and building her self-esteem. More importantly, Badger brought Barbara’s unique talents and skills into the world of service dog training.
By 2012, Barbara found herself immersed in the world of service dog training by addressing one person, one dog, one obstacle and one solution at a time. As the number of owner-trained service dog teams receiving her assistance rapidly grew from 1 to 7, Ms. Henry decided to form an organization that would empower people, 4 paws at a time.
ABOUT
Domino Service Dogs is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that depends on donations and grants to continue making an impact in Colorado communities.
"Domino Service Dogs has provided support to more than 40 owner-trained service dog teams to date."
For almost 12 years, Caitlin’s service dogs, Badger and Talia, attended every important event alongside her from doctor appointments, hospital stays, third through twelfth grade and Red Rocks Community College. Caitlin was the youngest child to attend Cardinal Community Academy with a service dog. Caitlin was also a strong advocate in the disability community whose impact will last a lifetime.
Caitlin was working towards her goal of attending Harvard University when on May 22, 2017, at 18 years of age, Caitlin passed away. On May 31, 2017, by authorization of Governor John W. Hickenlooper and in loving memory of Caitlin Tyra Brady, the flag over the Colorado State Capital was retired. May 31st was proclaimed Caitlin Tyra Brady day.
Caitlin dreamed that someday, Domino Service Dogs would be run by people with disabilities, for the benefit of people with disabilities. It is our mission to continue helping Caitlin's dream take flight, by assisting people with disabilities to train their own service dog, using reward based training techniques. And to leave this world a little better place, because there once was a little girl named Caitlin Tyra Brady, who dreamed a really big dream.
