If you were on the second floor of the Kent Student Center on Tuesday, you could celebrate Valentine's Day and support a furry fundraiser by paying a dollar to get a doggie kiss or hug or give a belly rub to a young service dog in training.
The event was sponsored by Paws for a Cause, a student group that receives puppies as young as nine weeks old and begins early training to prepare the dogs to work as service animals.
Paws for a Cause works with 4 Paws for Ability, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to place service dogs with children and veterans with disabilities. The dogs are typically goldendoodles, golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers or golden/Lab mixes.
Puppies in training
Julia Reading, a junior fashion merchandising major from West Newbury, Massachusetts, is the vice president of Paws for a Cause. She said these dogs will be trained to assist people requiring wheelchair assistance and people with seizure disorders, PTSD or autism.
Reading brought her newly assigned puppy named Wrangler, a nine-week-old golden Labrador retriever, to today’s event. “We take puppies from nine weeks old and keep them until they are about a year old," she said. "We help to get them socialized and help prepare them for situations they might encounter when they are service dogs.”
These activities include taking the dogs to church, the zoo, bowling alleys and other places that might offer them distractions and other challenges they may encounter as they assist their human companions.
Today’s Paws for a Cause Valentine’s Day kissing booth event was both a socialization opportunity for the pups and a fundraiser that will help finance the group’s puppy-enrichment field trips.
‘It’s tough to let them go.’
After a year, the young dogs in training go to 4 Paws for Ability for advanced training before they are placed with a child or a veteran.
“We put a lot of work into them,” Reading said. “It’s tough to let them go.”
Reading has a personal connection to her work with the dogs. “I have both friends and family who are in need of service dogs, so for me, it’s a way to give back,” she said.
“It’s such a unique thing; not a lot of people get to do this,” Reading said.
"It’s good for me, too,” said Reading. “They make me happy; they give me a reason to want to keep up. When I go to class, when I go for a walk, I know it will be good for them, too. “
