As anyone who regularly reads Dogster knows, we think of dogs as much more than the subjects of cute and entertaining videos to pass around the Internet while you should be working. Dogs are our companions and, in their own way, make valuable contributions to society. Nothing demonstrates that better than service and working dogs. In a high-tech age where problems are usually solved by designing an app, we keep finding that an even better answer can be to “train a dog.”
All that is why we’re happy to congratulate the Penn Vet Working Dog Center on its recent announcement that three dogs from their inaugural class graduated recently.
The proud graduates are Bretagne, a Golden Retriever who is the Center’s first diabetes alert dog; Morgan, a Labrador Retriever trained for narcotics detection; and Thunder, a Lab who’s going to be doing search and rescue missions in urban areas. The three have been in training since September, 2012, when the Center first opened.
Executive Director Dr. Cindy Otto said of the graduates, “Throughout their training, Bretagne, Morgan, and Thunder consistently surpassed our highest expectations. We are incredibly proud of these dogs and wish them well in their new partnerships. It will be extremely rewarding to see them thrive in their careers as they put their scent-detection skills to work in order to save lives.”
The three dogs certainly aren’t the first of their kind, but service dogs are always at a shortage. The training is hard and long, and it’s good to get more out in the field, especially from a professional facility. Hopefully, this indicates great things to come from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and their future graduates. There’s video of the three dogs below. Check it out to see what they went through to get their dog diplomas.
Video: Thunder training to do search and rescue.
Morgan learns how to do a vehicle search:
Here’s a little mini-doc of Bretagne going through her training to detect hypoglycemic scents and help her diabetic owner:
Via Penn Vet Working Dog Center
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