Camille Even wrapped her left arm around Falcon and rubbed his head with her right hand. The golden retriever closed his eyes and wagged his tail. The dozen or so people watching smiled. A few snapped pictures.

“She’s ecstatic about this,” said Camille’s father, Sgt. Daniel Even. “It’s something we’ve been wanting for a while.”

More than a year and a half after her mother applied, 14-year-old Camille was ceremonially given a service dog Thursday during a short ceremony at the Fort Lewis commissary.

It will still be about six months until Camille receives a dog from Canine Assistants through Milk-Bone’s Canine Heroes Program, but she clearly relished playing with Falcon, the service dog of a Navy family in attendance.

The Evens, who live at Fort Lewis, will travel to Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, in July to meet and train with the service dog. Camille, an eighth-grader who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 2 and also has progressive developmental disabilities, likely will receive a golden retriever or a goldendoodle, a golden retriever-poodle mix.

Camille walked with the help of a cane Thursday and sometimes uses a manual wheelchair. The service dog will assist her with everyday tasks such as retrieving dropped items, helping her with balance and turning the lights on and off.

The dog will also be trained to detect slight changes in smell that could signal a dangerous change in blood-sugar levels.

“It’s amazing what dogs can do,” said Camille’s mother, 43-year-old Amy Even.

She heard about the program from a friend at Fort Lewis and applied in May 2007. At the time, her husband, Daniel, was deployed to Iraq as a cook with the 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry Regiment. The unit finished its 15-month tour in August.

About 100 people have received service dogs over the past 10 years as part of the program, a partnership with Milk-Bone and the Defense Commissary Agency. This is the sixth year the program has made a stop at Fort Lewis, said J.D. Fenessy, national sales director for Del Monte, the parent company of Milk-Bone.

The program pays to train the dog, plus its food and health care for life – worth about $20,000, Fenessy said.

It’s made a huge change in the life of Alex Carion, a 16-year-old Poulsbo resident who was born with cerebellar hypoplasia, which affects his balance and speech. Alex and his mother, Kellie, were at the ceremony to represent Canine Assistants, the Georgia-based nonprofit that trains service dogs.

Alex, the son of a sailor based on Whidbey Island and serving a six-month deployment to Iraq, received Falcon about 21/2 years ago.

Carion had tried for more than a year to find a service dog for her son with no luck. On a trip to Disneyland, she saw someone walking with a dog wearing the Canine Assistants vest. She asked for more information and applied when she returned home.

“I had no idea how much it would help,” said Carion, 46. “Falcon’s his helper and his best friend. It’s made a huge, huge difference.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

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