News

Service dog makes paws-itive impact on campus

YASMEEN ALMOMANI

NEWS DIRECTOR

Wilfrid Laurier University is committed to providing accessible services and welcomes regulated service animals to all facilities on campus.

The university supports the presence of service animals-in-training with policies and requirements that the owner must abide by.

Rolo, an 11-month-old yellow Labrador retriever mix, is a service puppy-in-training being raised by Carly Zeller, a first-year bachelor of education student at Laurier.

Zeller is a volunteer raiser for National Service Dogs, an organization that provides service animals for children with autism and individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder.

She has been training him since December 2020 when he was in kindergarten, which consisted of him learning house manners online and socializing with other dogs at training.

He was transitioned to grade school in February and transferred to high school in the summer.

“All the high school classes are out in public…they’re out at stores where we’re able to practice his public training abilities of staying calm in busier environments, being around closer proximity to dogs, that kind of thing,” Zeller said.

Rolo spends most of his time with Zeller, including the time she spends on campus.

“Going to Laurier is good for him to be in a busier environment and learn to settle and it helps him basically have more access to being outside in the public world … it broadens his experiences and helps him have a well-rounded training.”

Her family are involved as they help take him to vet appointments and she is constantly connecting with the NSD staff about this training.

When lockdown ended, it was difficult for Rolo to get used to the increased cars going past the road and the people coming to the door, but he is adjusting.

Zeller said that bringing Rolo to campus also benefits the students in her program.

“I come from a Bachelor of Education program so I also think it’s important for my classmates, we have no idea maybe one of our students will have a service dog.”

It is important for future educators to see service animal before teaching because their future students could require accessibility in the form of a service animal.

“[Being on campus] helps him practice settling … but I also think it could benefit the students as well, especially for our [future] teaching,” Zeller said.

Seeing a dog attracts attention but students should remain calm around him for his training.

“[People crowding him] throws him off because he’s so concentrated, and then he gets excited. He builds off your energy, so if you’re crazy excited, he better be crazy excited, so I think it’s good that people are just calm around him.”

“’When we do practice petting the dog, we try not to actually look at the dog they’re about to pet,” she said.

This keeps Rolo calm and prevents him from getting distracted during his training.

In January, Rolo will be moving onto an adult raiser to teach him more advanced skills and brush up on what he has learned so far.

“Our next couple steps from now until then is really just brushing up with skills so that he is ready for his adult raiser and getting all those things crisper.”

After the adult raiser, he could go to NSD university or to special advanced training to be placed in a forever home.

“For me, I would hope to continue on, either as a puppy raiser again, or try a new role and be an adult raiser.”

Rolo has an Instagram account run by Zeller where his progress can be followed by anyone interested.

“People are always welcome to come up to us and talk to us. We love to share more about the organization.”

Going to Laurier is good for him to be in a busier environment and learn to settle and it helps him basically have access to being outside ...

-Carly Zeller, volunteer raiser for National Service Dogs CONTRIBUTED IMAGE

REGION

Local COVID-19 update for Oct. 4

YASMEEN ALMOMANI

NEWS DIRECTOR

As of Monday, Oct. 4, 11 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Waterloo Region, and the number of active cases decreased by four to 176. There are currently six active outbreaks in the region.

Some of the cases reported so far this month have been in public schools in the region.

Ontario logged 511 new cases today and two COVID-19 related deaths with the total death toll standing at 9,754 in the province.

Almost 82 per cent of people over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated province-wide.

Last month, Waterloo Region said that it is planning COVID-19 vaccine roll out for individuals aged 5-11 later in fall or winter so that protection is prepared for this age group if approved by Health Canada.

In that case, there will be information sessions for families and children’s doses would be offered at doctors’ offices, pharmacies and regional vaccination clinics in the region.

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE submitted initial trial data for vaccines for this age group and they said they would make a formal request with U.S. regulators for emergency use.

With Thanksgiving approaching next week, it is important that people remain protected from getting or transmitting COVID-19.

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Waterloo region’s medical officer of health, said that vaccination is the strongest layer of protection, but distancing, masking, and maintaining small gathering sizes, and staying home when you’re sick are also important.

“The more that we add those layers the more that it protects us and our loved ones,” Hsiu-Li Wang, said.

She said that small gatherings of people who are fully gathering are much safer than larger gatherings with unvaccinated people, or people whose vaccination status is not known, to limit the spread and stay protected.

Students who are attending a Wilfrid Laurier University location in-person in the fall term are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 8.