OCEANSIDE -- Between the puppies in training, the happy tails of working dogs, the unabashed glee of new owners and the quiet, inward looks of a best friend lost, Canine Companions for Independence graduated 12 human-canine teams Saturday, bringing its 20-year total to 675.

The organization breeds, trains and places service dogs with people who have disabilities ranging from spina bifida and multiple sclerosis to hearing loss, said Linda Valliant, executive director of the organization's southwest regional center in east Oceanside.

Saturday's event combined the canine graduation ceremonies with a 20-year anniversary celebration of the organization's founding.

Before hundreds of puppy raisers, trainers, the disabled and their families, 12 dogs earned their graduate stripes in the noon ceremony at Mission San Luis Rey, just across the street from the Dean and Gerda Koontz Campus of Canine Companions.

The trainers and new owners worked together daily for two weeks to reach the graduation, Valliant said.

One by one, advanced trainers brought to the stage the dogs they have trained for the last six months. There they turned them over to the new owners, some in wheelchairs. The ceremony brought claps, gasps and tears. A dozen boxes of Kleenex sat nearby.

Among those who received a dog Saturday was Marianne Merizalde, a teacher at Vista's California Avenue School, a regional school for preschool-age special education children. Merizalde is not impaired, but she teaches students with a variety of disabilities including autism.

Hubbard, a black Labrador-golden retriever mix, is a "facilities dog" that will work at the school, Merizalde said. Hubbard will join Ozzie, another facilities dog that has helped the children there for years. Merizalde recalled a student named Chase who would stand but would not walk. Because the boy liked Ozzie, the teachers placed the dog nearby. Chase started taking steps to get to Ozzie, and now walks more because of the dog, Merizalde said.

The organization's Santa Rosa facility breeds puppies that are placed in the homes of trained puppy raisers when they are 8 weeks old. During the next 18 months, the pups learn basic commands and the trainers assess their temperament. If they pass, they graduate to advanced training, where they learn about 50 commands such as how to open the refrigerator and how to pick up paper.

Valliant said the mix of Labrador and golden retriever is a perfect fit for a working dog.

"It turns out that the mutt is better tempered than a purebred," she said with a smile. "Labradors have a great work ethic and goldens love to please, so the mix makes perfect fit."

The dogs that graduate give their owners newfound freedom and ability, she said.

"It's amazing the independence these animals give to people," Valliant said. "They get the dog, and all of the sudden their whole world opens up."

Lance Weir, 35, was a student at Arkansas State University 14 years ago when his canoe got caught in some rapids on a hometown river.

He dove under to free his canoe but hit a rock, broke a vertebrae and became a quadriplegic. With limited use of his hands, Weir said, he drops items such as keys often. Before he received his first assistance dog two years ago, he was forced to wait for someone to pick them up. Now, with the help of Satine, a mix of black Labrador and golden retriever, he is independent -- so much so that he recently moved from Arkansas to Oceanside to take a job as volunteer coordinator with Canine Companions. He spoke of what that sense of independence -- made possible through Satine's assistance -- means to him.

"It's just opened my life up," he said. "It gave me the confidence to move 2,000 miles away from everything I know and go to work for Canine Companions."

As part of his job, Weir organized the 45 volunteers that made Saturday's ceremony and activities possible. About 800 volunteers help the organization's eight-state southwestern region that stretches from Hawaii to Arkansas.

Canine Companions graduates a class of dogs four times each year.

Contact Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or online at pireland@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.