About Us

Pebbles, the first 4 Paws for Ability dog at the College of Wooster

In the 2012-2013 school year at the College of Wooster, a new volunteer program house began. This program’s project was with 4 Paws for Ability, an organization that places service dogs with disabled children and veterans. The student group fostered one dog over the school year– a sweet female bloodhound labrador mix named Pebbles. She won the hearts of all the students she met on campus and had a great time in Wooster (this is their old blog). The volunteering group has been such a success it has grown each year and for the 2017-2018 school year there are 3 service dogs in training on campus!

We love it when our dog gets to meet new people! Exposing the dog to new sights, smells, sounds, etc. is our main goal throughout the semester. Most of the time, we would absolutely love it for you to pet our dog, but, please always ASK before petting! There are times when we want our dog to focus on a command that has been given to them, and someone petting them can be a huge distraction. Being able to listen to the commands given by a handler is really important for a service dog in training, so be sure to ask first!

We don’t! It’s important to realize that we are NOT providing the training for these dogs for the service they will eventually provide for a child or veteran. We are fosters, so we do general care, keep up basic obedience commands, and provide lots and lots of socialization experiences for the dogs. However, we do attend a 5 hour orientation at the beginning of the semester to go over our responsibilities. We also have monthly meetings at 4 Paws to work with the trainers on any issues we may be experiencing with our dogs. In the end, it is the dog trainers at 4 Paws who train our puppies to become service dogs, we just socialize!

Yes! Legally, service dogs in training have the same rights as full fledged service dogs, allowing them to go everywhere we go. This is important for the dogs in training so they get to experience anything and everything they could encounter as a service dog. Our dog goes to class, restaurants, the grocery store, the county fair, and anywhere else that we go. There are lots of great places around Wooster for the dogs to get new experiences!

Of course, giving the dog back at the end of the semester is incredibly difficult. We absolutely love every dog that we have on campus and letting go is bittersweet. While the good-bye is hard, we know that the dogs we work with go on to have a huge impact in the life of someone who needs them. 4 Paws even has ‘graduation’ ceremonies for fosters to attend and meet the dog’s new family. These families are beyond incredible and meeting them makes saying good-bye well worth it.