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 # 7 My Service Dog Is Medical Equipment 

My Service Dog is medical equipment, just like a wheelchair, crutches or an oxygen tank. She is medically necessary and anywhere in public medical equipment is allowed, so is my Service Dog. Additionally, please treat her like medical equipment. You wouldn’t walk up to someone you didn’t know and just randomly start pushing their wheelchair or talk to a little old lady’s cane, so please don’t touch, talk to, pet or otherwise engage with my partner.