After getting my first service dog, Ping, in the fall semester of my junior year, I knew I wanted to continue training service dogs. Now, as the co-advisor of 4pawsForAbility, I have the opportunity to continue training dogs for the rest of my time here at Witt.
Hachi (who all of you should know) is my third dog, and one whom I adore. His breed, bloodhound-lab mix, is probably one of the smartest breed of dogs--he's already learned a handful of his tricks in only 2 weeks.
This opportunity that I have been given through 4paws has not only allowed me to experience the fun of having a dog around 24/7, but has taught me a huge amount of responsibility--like Kali said, it's truly like caring for a small, helpless child.
FUN FACT: I learned this fact this past weekend---Many of the service dogs that are through 4paws will end up going to children with epilepsy. In order to train the dog to alert someone that they sense a seizure coming, they actually take the shirt that a child was wearing during a seizure and have the dog smell it. Then they let them smell a "normal" shirt. After smelling the shirt that was worn during a seizure, they get the dog hyped up so they think it's a good thing, therefore they know they will be rewarded when they act crazy in front of a kid before they have a seizure. Man...aren't dogs smart?! I keep saying I want to be a dog just for a day so I can experience what they go through every day--what they smell, hear, see, etc.
Well, enough about dogs. Like I said, I just wanted to give Hachi a shout out--he deserves it.
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