From Director, Jennifer Petre:
A year ago we were contacted by an ambitious senior from Kensington Woods High School. Cheyenne Honey was interested in doing her required senior project on Stiggy’s Dogs. The project was to be conducted over a year, she did fundraising and help spread awareness on how Shelter dogs are trained as service dogs and how they help our veterans.  

Cheyenne came and interviewed Donna Fournier (Director of training and development) and I. She conducted herself very professionally and asked great questions to keep it short, “we were impressed”. Six months later I was invited and went to listen to her presentation. I was amazed at the maturity of such a young woman. At the end of presentation she handed out a flyer she had put together with the Top 10 things handlers want you to know about their service animal. Not only did she do research on service animals, but she also did extensive research on invisible wounds such as PTSD.

For the next 10 days we will be posting each thing she came up with. Thank you Cheyenne for your willingness to learn and your creative insight to help build awareness!

Lesson #1    My Service Dog Is Working. 

When you see my partner and I out and about in public, please understand that she’s doing vital work for me, even if she doesn’t “look like” she’s working to you. Just like when you’re working, she just wants (and needs) to be left alone to do her job. Please don’t distract my Service Dog from her job by yelling at her, talking to her, using baby talk at her, touching her, touching her equipment, crowding her, whistling at her, barking at her or otherwise doing anything except politely ignoring her.