An unusual sight on her college campus led a local woman to volunteer for an organization that helps train service animals.
“The fall of my sophomore year, 2018, I saw puppies with vests on them, and I asked about it. There was a brand new club,” said Lily Swanson, a 2017 Lakeside High School and recent University of Pittsburgh graduate.
Intrigued by the puppies, she found out about STEP@Pitt, the service dog in education training program organization whose members volunteer to help raise puppies and teach them basic commands before they receive further training through Canine Companions International in Santa Rosa, Calif.
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Swanson’s early involvement in the club led her to become a volunteer puppy sitter. She’d take care of the dogs while the volunteer puppy raiser studied for exams or just needed a break from the dog.
By her junior year, Swanson was ready to raise a puppy. She applied hoping to get a puppy during spring break. She got Kenzo, a Labrador retriever/golden retriever mix, in March 2020, just as the pandemic hit.
The pup quickly became a friend.
“This was the best decision I ever made,” she said of becoming a puppy raiser. Swanson spent her senior year as outreach coordinator for STEP@Pitt.
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During lockdown and times of isolation, she was glad to have Kenzo at her side. One of the aspects of the program Kenzo didn’t get to participate in as much was socialization with other people and animals.
Swanson taught Kenzo basic commands such as sit, stay, kiss, heel and shake. Some of these commands are building blocks for more advanced skills. A shake can lead to a dog learning how to turn off a light switch.
Service dogs can help people in a variety of circumstances including those who are on the autism spectrum, are deaf or hard of hearing, are in wheelchairs or have post traumatic stress disorder.
Puppies for the Canine Companions International typically stay with their puppy raiser for about 15 months, but Swanson didn’t get a puppy in a typical year. While he should’ve gone back in May for further professional training in his quest to become a service animal, Kenzo is visiting Swanson’s Columbia County family while she’s home for the summer.
He will head on in August, and Swanson will head back to the University of Pittsburgh, where she’ll study occupational therapy.
After the professional training, dogs go through a matching process to see if they are the right fit for the person needing the dog. About half of the dogs go on to become service animals. If Kenzo doesn’t work out, Swanson said she’d be open to adopting him.
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She said she knows she’ll miss him, but oftentimes the graduate, which is the designation for the individual receiving the service animal, will keep in touch with the puppy raiser. She hopes that will be the case if he’s matched.
While she does have her name on the waiting list to receive another puppy to raise, Swanson doesn’t know what her school schedule will allow. She does want Kenzo to become a service animal, but if he doesn’t, she knows she can’t care for two dogs and go to school at the same time.
She said she hopes to have a service animal in her occupational therapy practice one day.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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