By the end of 2007, the New England Assistance Dog Services or (NEADS), based in Boylston , Mass., hopes to pair 10 disabled veterans with guide dogs. It's program, Canines for Combat Veterans (
www.neads.org), trains dogs for two purposes: to balance veterans when they use prostheses to go up and down stairs or rise from a sitting or prone position; and to serve as assistance dogs for veterans in wheelchairs, for instance, to pick up dropped articles, retrieve items at a distance, pull wheelchairs and to turn room lights on and off.