Colorado Elementary School Students Train Service Dog For Local Veteran in Need – American Kennel Club
Elementary school students in Divide, Colo. have taken it upon themselves to help veterans in their local community.
Five students from Summit Elementary School realized that there were veterans in their community who could benefit from having a service dog. They then decided to start training the dogs themselves, KKTV reports.
“We recognize a large number of veterans in Teller County who would largely benefit from having a service dog to help them,” said student Christian Bonnette.
The kids work after school with trainer John Franks of the non-profit group Heroes Pack. He teaches the kids to train the dogs. Currently, the students are working with a dog named Holly, who they plan to give to a local veteran by May.
It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to train a service dog, but the students are up for the challenge.
“It takes about 500 hours to train each dog and about $5,000,” said student Leah Strawmatt.
The students have already raised $1,200 and they’re not stopping now. The group participated in a regional competition for Destination Imagination (the world’s largest creative problem-solving competition) and won first place. They will go on to compete at state.
Way to go, students! It’s so great to see young people working hard to make a difference in their community and promote the benefits of service dogs.
See the students working with the dogs in the video below.
Learn more about service dogs here.
And for information on the Canine Partners Program, which celebrates All-American dogs like Holly, click here.
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