The Phoenix Winter 2019

14 • Phoenix Magazine Sophomore, Jen Medlock, got her service dog Paisley when Pais- ley was less than a year old. Med- lock has a disconnect between her heart and her brain which causes her to faint. Paisley’s purpose was to alert people when Medlock was down. At first the training didn’t go quite as planned.

“It was a lot of me falling on the floor,” says Medlock.

However, the first time Med- lock truly fainted in front of Pais- ley she says Paisley did exactly what she was supposed to do and has been nothing but helpful since.

Medlock understands that she is not the only person in need of a dog to aid her wellbe- ing. Medlock, along with soph- omore Desiree Green, volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House through their sorority at Augusta University.

Green owns a therapy and emotional support dog. Green mentioned to Medlock the idea of possibly giving emotional sup- port dogs free of charge, to the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House.

“We want to give dogs that give back,” says Medlock, as she discusses that she and Green hope to accomplish donating trained dogs to the Ronald Mc- Donald House by starting a pup- py training club for students to participate in.

Green and Medlock are hoping to guide college students through training puppies’ basic commands and obedience, meet- ing once a week and fundraising to buy food for the puppies so the cost will be minimal to students who would foster the puppies.

The idea came from Green, a special education major and Alpha Delta Pi’s (ADPi) Ronald McDonald House coordinator, who currently uses an emotion- al support dog for her anxiety. The Benefit of the Snout by Emily Garcia

Winter 2019 • 15 Green says that she understands the positive effects animals can have on a person’s life.

Green’s dog, Lego, is a hypo- allergenic Australian Sheppard and Poodle mix, trained to detect panic attacks.

“He’s certified through an online program, which you can do with documents like medical records [proving your need for an emotional support dog] and stuff like that. But I’m going through the process of certifying him as a therapy dog now,” explains Green. An emotional support dog differs from a therapy dog in that an emotional support dog is used for the comfort of one person while a therapy dog is used for the comfort of the public. Neither dog has access rights to be in ev- ery public place, unlike a service dog. A service dog is an entire- ly separate entity that provides a specific service for a disabled person, all this according to office assistant at Alliance of Therapy Dogs, Tracy Duck.

Last fall Green brought Lego to a special education classroom at Langford Middle School to aid him in his training to become a therapy dog. Green says that at first the children were resistant to the pair being in the classroom.

“As I kept going every week once a week the kids just started to love him....There was this one student, and he just fell in love with him [Lego], and every time I would walk in, he would just take the leash from me and be like, ‘Okay he’s mine now, this is my dog, bye!’” Green explains.

Lego helped the kids work on fine motor skills by going on walks and playing games of fris- bee. Green provided the students of Langford Middle School with a meaningful experience free of charge. Green says that already trained service dogs can be up- wards of thousands of dollars which may deter individuals from obtaining one.

Green wants to change this and hopes that the club that she and Medlock plan to start will take away the burden of cost and time.

Green says that the club will be named after their aspirations for it’s purpose.

“It’s called, ‘We Give Dogs that Give Back,’” Green describes. “[It’s] a program where college students can train these puppies [to be therapy animals] for a year. We’ll donate these puppies once they’re a year old to a family or adult in need of an emotional support dog.”

Medlock says that these dogs will not be certified as emotional support dogs officially, as individ- uals need to individually prove their need for the dog to receive certifications. However, as Green owns a certified emotional sup- port dog, Medlock says that all dogs they train will be held to the same standards which Green’s dog follows.

Medlock also says that fami- lies will sign waivers because, “As much as we want to [be fully re- sponsible for the actions of these dogs] they are dogs.”

However, the dogs will be trained well, according to Green. Medlock and Green say they are taking the hard part of having a dog out of the equation.

“It’ll have the basic com- mands, it’ll be house trained, [and] we’re going to make sure it’s socialized and [so that the dog is] not going to be aggressive. It’s go- ing to help the parents a lot,” ex- plains Medlock, “If we can fund- raise enough, we’ll have enough money to pay for the first round of shots and cover those costs for those people [that can’t afford to pay].”

The club is developing Med- lock reports. She and Green have found an advisor, Joe Pierce the director of Student Life & En- gagement, for the club and have a breeder of aussie doodles, like Lego, ready to give the club a lit- ter of puppies.

“We still have to fill out a packet and paperwork to get it approved to be on campus and we’re hoping to be able to have everything together by the start of 2020,” Medlock explains, “So we have a lot of work to do!”

Green says she is very grateful for what dogs have brought into her life, exemplifying the art of service.