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Hearts of Gold also offers a free training course for the community each summer. The WVU service dog training program is comprised of three courses – one introductory and two advanced. “Our main focus is education and research, but the fact that we actually place these dogs with people who really need them is one of the great ‘by-products’ of the program,” Meade said. Each year, between eight-to-12 students foster the dogs, some caring for them until they are ready to be placed with their handler – a point they typically reach after about two years of training.Īfter completion of the training program and a successful evaluation, the dogs are placed with people with disabilities, with a special focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. “Additionally, I wanted to address an area that is a deficit in veterinary training – animal behavior.”Īdditionally, Meade said she also saw this as a perfect opportunity for civic engagement for our students as they gain disability awareness and interact with the public during their animal behavior training while gaining hands-on, canine experience for their veterinary applications.įor students like Korczyk, the hands-on component can be an around-the-clock opportunity.
“I saw the need for pre-veterinary students to have a hands-on canine course,” said Jean Meade, adjunct professor of animal and nutritional sciences in the WVU Davis College and co-founder of the Human-Animal Bond, the non-profit organization that facilitates the Hearts of Gold program.
The program, established nearly 10 years ago in collaboration with Hearts of Gold – a local program that raises, trains and places service dogs – fulfills several objectives. “It’s going to be really hard giving her up.”īut giving her up is precisely the goal, and is just one reason the service dog training program in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design is so significant. “I’m definitely proud of Abbey,” she said. Her eyes well up with tears as Kristie Korczyk, animal and nutritional sciences major at West Virginia University, reflects on her relationship with Abbey, the service dog she has been fostering for nearly two years. “She’s definitely not just a dog, she’s family to me.” Thinking about Fostering a Service Dog? Watch this video
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