Most dogs can't answer the phone or turn on the lights. But then again most dogs aren't Usul.

Usul is the legs, hands and an overall safety source for 64-year-old Lee Peetoom of King George County, who, because of polio, has trouble doing ordinary tasks.

Usul, who was rescued from a shelter in Delaware, can stop Peetoom from falling, she can help him undress, retrieve the phone and even turn on a light switch or call for the elevator.

And that's not all. Usul can do more than 30 tasks that are a godsend for Peetoom.

"She's a treasure," said Peetoom, a retired dental technician. "The last three times I felt myself falling, she kept me up. She steadies herself underneath me. She is so smart, about anything I need we can teach her to do it."

He said he contracted polio as a child and has suffered continued nerve-ending deterioration since. Nowadays he moves around with a walker or a wheelchair.

About a year ago he was matched up with Usul, a Belgian shepherd-greyhound mix and a certified service dog.

The dog is valued at $30,000, but was given to Peetoom for $600.

Usul is just one of hundreds of service dogs trained and provided to those who need it by Canine Partners For Life, a nonprofit organi- zation based in Cochranville, Pa.

Jennifer Kresel, director of marketing, says they search for intelligent dogs with good temperament. The dogs are then trained extensively for about a year so they can help people with disabilities.

The dogs are taught to help a wide variety of people, including those who have seizures. Dogs known as seizure-alert dogs can detect a seizure up to an hour before it occurs and alert the victim so he can get to a safe place, Kresel said.

She said the only dogs the agency doesn't provide are seeing-eye dogs.

The agency also trains the new owners of the dogs, and conducts follow-up classes.

Canine for Life, which was established 15 years ago, gets about 20 percent of its dogs from shelters or as gifts from people. The rest are purchased from breeders.

And the agency works entirely from donations.