Our Team

Dedicated Experts With a Proven Record of Success.

Cliona O’Rourke

Hi I’m Cliona O’ Rourke and I am the co-founder and operations manager at My Canine Companion. I have worked in the assistance dog area for nearly 25 years in several roles from puppy supervisor to assistance dog instructor as well as being a qualified dog groomer.

In 2004 I trained in Canada as an autism service dog instructor and returned to implement the first autism service dog programme in Ireland. I became the first person in Ireland and Europe to train a service dog particularly for a child with autism. I have since worked with several training schools in Europe helping them develop their services. 

In 2011 I felt I could do more with the programme to reach more families of children with autism so along with my husband Niall I set up My Canine Companion. The aim was to provide an individualized service where parents of children with autism could support and empower each other. 

We introduced our unique puppy programme which is now our primary service. This involves a totally different approach to training whereby our puppies are placed with their end user family rather than a volunteer. This is an innovative approach which involves a much greater interaction and participation with client families and ultimately results in a 90% success rate of puppies qualifying as service dogs. This is twice that of traditional training programmes.

My role with MCC is to oversee the day-to-day operations from training and qualification of our service dogs, client service management, staff training, breeding programme management, management of our therapy programmes and strategic planning for future services and training.

I love working with the staff and we all learn from each other every day. I am particularly proud that we now have 3 previous clients working with the charity. Nora, Tracey and Laura all displayed natural dog handling qualities while I worked with them as clients and they of course offer us a unique perspective into working with families of children with autism. Our staff as well as the extended organisation are like family and all strongly believe in our motto “bringing families together”. 

Finally, I am the mother of 3 girls aged from 4 to 9. All 3 have been born since we founded the charity and all of them have worked with us from helping with fundraising days to playing the part of our clients while we are doing attachment training.  

Niall Ruddy

Hi I’m Niall and I am co-founder and part time CEO of MY Canine Companion. I set up My Canine Companion in 2011 with my wife Cliona.

I am responsible for overseeing the administration and strategic plan of the organisation. Other key duties include fundraising, marketing, and volunteer/community outreach. I report monthly to our Board of Directors.I am certainly no expert in dog training, and Cliona is responsible for the day to day management of our training programmes and operational staff training and evaluation.

 I work closely with the board to fulfil the organisations mission. I have the responsibility of developing resource streams sufficient to ensure the financial health of the organisation. I am responsible for the fiscal management of MCC and ensuring we work within the approved budget, and ensuring maximum resource utilisation, and maintenance of the organisation in a positive financial position. 

I am responsible for overseeing our media, marketing and social media output as well as client liaison management. 

In my life outside of MCC I work as a member of An Garda Siochana in North Cork and am father to 3 beautiful daughters. 

Linda Collins

My name is Linda Collins,

I'm the senior autism service dog instructor here at my canine companion. I have been working with service dogs for the past 15 years. I started working with My Canine Companion in 2013 as an apprentice service dog instructor. My job involves training service dogs to an advanced level and onto the final stages to becoming a qualified autism service dog. My job is to assess and teach the dogs to reach a high standard of training This includes kerb work, directional changes, attachment training, buggy training and a high level of tolerance and obedience, while also ensuring the dog is confident and maintaining good social behaviour in different environments.

My job also consists of working closely with families to ensure all needs are met, whether it's matching a new client to an adult dog to suit their needs or working with a family from our puppy programme. Once this is completed a parent/ guardian will come down to our premises in Cork for training with their dog. This includes training each individual in dog handling skills and ensure they are confident with their dog in all environments. Once this is complete I then travel to the family’s homes for after care and attachment training. This is where I work with the child and dog together in their own environment. This will include follow up visits throughout the dog's life.

I always loved working with dogs but working with children and their families and seeing first-hand what difference these dogs make is hugely rewarding.

It's very rewarding to be part of team that has the opportunity to improve quality of life for people.

Orlaig Glavin

Hi my name is Orlaig Glavin.

I joined My Canine Companions in 2017 or MCC known affectionately as, by those who are involved with us.

I joined in an apprentice instructor role, I quickly moved on to training trainees for the same role in MCC, as I have worked for decades in the service dog industry prior to MCC. I have and do enjoy every day working in MCC, great people, dogs, and a great service dog school.

I look forward to seeing how MCC develops as it’s an exciting and forward-thinking establishment with open minded and flexible people at the helm. I am delighted to part of such a positive and great team of people.

Karen Duke

Hi, I am Karen. My current role in My Canine Companion is puppy supervisor and trainer in the Munster area and I also train 3 to 4 service dogs a year.

I started my journey with the Irish guide dogs where I qualified as a dog trainer and worked for 5 1/2 years. After a break I returned to working with service dogs 10 years ago seeing how beneficial and life changing service dogs are to families that have children with Autism. I'm lucky my work is so rewarding and nothing beats the result of seeing the freedom and independence our dogs can bring to a child.

I am passionate about bringing out the best in our dogs personalities and working with the parents to become great handlers. This guardian on 4 legs who watches over their child and becomes their best friend. It's an indescribable feeling. All in all it takes a village to raise a great service dog a life I'm privileged to be a part of.

Karen / Daisydoodle 

Laura Sullivan

Hi I’m Laura and I’m the puppy supervisor in the Lenister area with my canine companion.

I first got involved with the charity when in November 2013 my daughter Ava received Harper a golden retriever service puppy in training. I completed the puppy program and in December 2014 Harper qualified as an Autism service dog. Shortly after that I started to meet up with other parents starting out with their pups and I’d meet them for a walk with their pup and go for a coffee and have a chat and help them in any way I could .

In June 2017 I was offered the position of the Lenister puppy supervisor which I gratefully accepted.

My role is to help and support the families on the puppy program and to get the pups ready for their formal training at 18 months old.

This involves meeting up a monthly puppy classes where we work on obedience and get the pups out to as many different environments as possible. This is from parks, shopping centres, public transport, coffee shops cinemas etc.

This is such a rewarding job watching the pups progress from a 10 week old puppy to a well socialised confident dog ready to start it’s training. But it’s also lovely to see the confidence of the handler / parent grow month on month as they see the work they are putting in pay off.

Nora O Mahony

My name is Nora O Mahony. I am a mum of 4 and 2 of my children are on the Autism Spectrum.

When my daughter was diagnosed with Autism we always knew a dog was going to work for her. Bethany adores animals and being a flight risk we needed a service dog for safety. We researched into it and found My Canine Companion so we applied and put our name on the waiting list.

In February 2016 we got a call to say Bethany had been matched with a dog. A beautiful Black Labradoodle called Gia. From the moment Gia came into my daughters life they had a bond that was unexplainable. I attended puppy training classes with our puppy trainer Karen along with other parents. Here I learnt why My Canine Companion's motto is Bringing Families Together because it did just that. Beth always found social situations difficult. She would go into a sensory overload followed by a meltdown when in busy, crowded and noisy  situations. So we avoided them. With Gia by her side, she slowly started to go along to places with her best friend by her side. She would turn to her for a hug or have a time out on the floor to regulate herself. We started to go out more as a family having Gia there just seemed to make it all a bit easier. Myself and my husband and children also made friends for life in our fellow parents.

In June 2017 Gia went off to start her final phase of training. In the time she was gone we boarded a dog. I also continued to fundraise and volunteer wherever I could for the charity I loved. Autism can be so isolating I felt it gave me a new lease of life. Gia qualified in September 2017. It was the best feeling in the world. My daughter had a qualified service dog and was attached to her for safety. The piece of mind it gave me as a parent to know my child was safe was a feeling I just couldn’t describe, and Beth had a furry best friend always by her side.

When Cliona approached me in December 2017 and asked would I be interested in training to be a service dog instructor I jumped at the chance. I started training under the guidance of Cliona and other trainers Linda and Orla. I loved every minute. I suppose I had the advantage of being a service user so I knew what these dogs truly meant to my clients and children and I loved the feeling of giving the gift of what we got to other people. In September 2019 I qualified as a service dog instructor. It was the best feeling in the world to have a job doing what I loved.

To date (November 2020) I am proud to say I have qualified 17 dogs. My favourite part of the job is putting the pieces together so to speak. Once the class is over and the dogs qualify I then travel all over the country to do the attachment side of the training. This is where the child wears a belt attached to the dog for safety. I just love seeing the look on parents faces happiness sometimes relief in knowing that their child is safe. I know because I’ve been there. I know exactly what it feels like. I feel so lucky to be able to give that gift to another family.

Tracey Doyle

My name is Tracey Doyle, I am a mum to five children, two have a diagnosis of autism. I am an MCC service user as my youngest daughter has Yoko a beautiful qualified Golden Doodle. 

While on the waiting list I puppy walked another dog, I needed to be sure that I could commit to the program as it requires diligence and dedication, while also having a challenging child with Autism and a busy household. 

It was evident very early on that this would be the way forward for us. When we received Yoko our lives changed for the better as we applied ourselves to the puppy program  with the constant support of the trainers it enabled us to have a smooth transition and the trainers were on hand to guide and advise whenever needed. The program was very enjoyable and helped our family to work and bond with Yoko before she qualified. 

Yoko qualified in December 2018, we enjoyed the freedom attachment gave us. As a large family we could now visit places as a complete family unit. Mia and Yoko have an unconditional bond of love and companionship it would warm anyone’s heart to see them together. 

During my period of Puppy walking, I volunteered at My Canine Companion, I was able to see the difference to family’s that an MCC service dog provides, this ignited a passion in me for working with MCC and helping other families experience the joy and freedom that an MCC service dog provides. 

As part of my volunteering I went to school visits, fundraising events and any other events where I got to share my passion for MCC dogs to a greater audience and to spread the word about MCC and help other families discover the role an MCC service dog could make to their families. 

During this period, I was asked if I would I be interested in becoming a service dog trainer for MCC, I’m delighted to say I’m currently completing my MCC Service Dog training apprenticeship under the guidance of Cliona O’Rourke. 

As a service user I’m able to use some of my experience and understanding of raising a child with autism, this helps me to relate to MCC clients and their children and help them on their journey with a service dog. 

I love going to work every day it is so rewarding to train the dogs and be a part of a super team. 

Maria Madden

My name is Maria Madden I have been working for My Canine Companion since 2018.  I look after the day to day running of the office from accounts to dealing with clients and fundraising events.   

 I have been involved with My Canine Companion since the very beginning as a volunteer along with my husband.  I have two little boys Charlie who is 9 and Alex who is 5.  Charlie and Alex always say the best part of Mammy working for My Canine Companion is that we have a new addition to our family.  The gorgeous Jack who is a labradoodle.  Jack is a therapy dog and comes to work with me every day.    

I look forward to the exciting times ahead in My Canine Companion and delighted to be a part of an amazing team. 

Nicole Duggan

Hi, my name is Nicole, and I am mom to an amazing little boy, Riley, who is on the Autism Spectrum. In 2017 Riley was matched with puppy in training, Willow, and our world opened up through My Canine Companion. I was lucky enough to gain a whole new family, who gave us huge support and encouragement, in what can be a bit of a lonely world.

Willow qualified in 2018 and Riley’s life changed for the better. He ditched his buggy and now walks proudly attached to Willow. My Canine companion was such a huge support to us, and I loved fundraising for the charity, attending training sessions and made amazing friends through Willow’s training. 
I then started volunteering for the charity, helping by organising the socialisation classes in Cork with Tracy, and it was so fantastic being able to help, and support other families coming through the puppy programme, with weekly meet ups, which helped both the dogs and the parents. Some would say it was our morning of sanity every week, and it was so lovely for us all to have a bit of me time, with people who always understood the good and the bad days.

During all of this, we loved sharing our journey with Willow, and the difference My Canine Companion has made to our lives, on our blog My Boy Blue, running different campaigns, and spreading the word about how much support and encouragement both Riley and I had received. But most of all, how much Willow has changed his life.

In 2019, I started helping out, voluntarily, with the My Canine Companion social media, and in January 2020 I started working for the charity, running their social media channels, and different campaigns, and virtual events this year.

It is amazing to be part of such a proactive, and positive team, who never fail to put a smile on your face.  I am so excited to see what is to come for the charity, and to watch so many more families’ lives change, with the help of the amazing team and these superhero dogs!