Freedom Design USA

Lee Haage

Lee Haage is married and has hour children two boys and twin daughters. She went through the usual activities with her husband and children such as Little League, Bobby Sox, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts Leader. Lee and her husband also enjoy the great out doors camping and traveling the highways of the United States. Lee has many other rolls primarily supporting her children as they traveled through the years of High School. All while working a full time job and keeping her eyes open for other opportunities.

Unexpectedly she found her new career. In 1982 while her daughter was dating a man (Richard) who unwillingly crashed the motorcycle he was riding resulting in a devastating injury leaving him a quadriplegic. Lee soon found herself working as a Personal Care Provider for 21 years and counting. During the past two decades Lee has been adapting, altering, repairing and modifying special equipment in an effort to make Richard's life more manageable.

In 1992 Richard was invited to Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) to obtain a Service Dog. Lee was invited to join Richard as his Care Provider. However, aspects of the training did not go as smoothly as Richard would have liked. Consequently, changes needed to be made that would allow Richard to be confidant while in team training. Richard was struggling with the Leash he was using and having little success in team training.

Soon Lee met Bruce Nicolaisen who is one of the Team Trainers working with Richard and explained she could make a better leash. During their conversation they discovered some ideas about making better equipment for the Service Dos and the people they were training. Lee asked Mr. Nicolaisen what some of his ideas were in designing a better leash and Lee told him she could make the changes. Lee quickly jumped into her "adaptation mode" and asked her husband to bring her sewing machine to CCI in Santa Rosa and set about gathering the material to make a better Leash. Soon a prototype was available and Canine Companions tested & retested the leash and soon approved the leash. Consequently, she made each member of the 1992 team training class a new and improved leash. And that's how Freedom Designs was born. Since that time other equipment has been designed and will continue to be designed and redesigned until it's perfect for the Dog and their handlers.

Bruce Nicolaisen

Bruce is a native of Sonoma County, CA. In 1973 Bruce sustained a Spinal Cord Injury following a diving accident. As a result of the accident Bruce sustained a cervical injury leaving him quadriplegic with limited use of his hands and arms.

However, Bruce has found ways to make life "quad-friendly" for himself and other’s with similar injuries. Bruce has had dogs all his life as pets, however, he got serious about setting a true course towards receiving a Service Dog. In 1980 he purchased a Rottweiler pup and spent a great deal of time training his new dog. Three years later and many training classes Bruce felt ready to approach Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) regarding having his dog certified as a Service Dog. Canine Companions agreed, saying "he's terrific”, and offered him an opportunity to volunteer at CCI training dogs. Bruce couldn't think of anything more he'd rather do, and so it began, he volunteered with CCI for 2 years until he had to get a "real" job. In 1989 he was hired by CCI and has trained many strings of dogs ever since. Bruce has taught puppy-raiser classes, team training classes and continues to train his own dogs. Furthermore, Bruce like others in his situation did the best he could with equipment not designed with him in mind. Bruce, is deeply committed to giving his best to the Assistant Dog concept and making things easier for those teams who will follow him in years to come. In 1993 Bruce teamed up with Lee Haage during a team training session to assist Richard Patterson who was getting his service dog. However, Richard was having a difficult time using the leashes provided by CCI and explained to Bruce and Lee “there’s has to be a better leash”. Together they brained stormed what would make the ideal leash and took deep pleasure at having the chance to help make available products that truly ease peoples' ways through their lives. Bruce is also a serious athlete, winning a Triathlon, placing third at one of many National Wheelchair competitions in the Individual Medley swim, Quad Rugby and has a passion for high speed remote control car Racing. He also loves traveling, camping, boating and 2 years ago conquered a long time interest in scuba diving, however, most of all having fun with his dogs. For Bruce the one constant in his life is the need to find ways to achieve independent function for himself and others. Bruce is a perpetual problem solver and is thrilled to have a business partner like Lee who also has a lot of experience making adaptations for people with disabilities.