East Coast Assistance Dogs D/B/A ECAD, Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities was founded by Lu and Dale Picard. When Lu's father suffered a stroke, she saw how much he hated being dependent on her. She taught their family pet to help him rise from a chair and retrieve some items, and noticed that her dad actually became more active and less depressed than when all his help came from a human. Lu saw first hand how Service Dogs could change people's lives, and in 1995 quit her full-time job to start ECAD. ECAD has grown to have training facilities in Connecticut and New York, and have placed Assistance Dogs in over a dozen states.