Service dogs have their day

Wright State University in southwest Ohio has opened a one-acre park for the helpful canines.

DAYTON (AP) — As she sits in her wheelchair, Amanda Fox pulls a large twig from a stack in her lap and hurls it across the lawn.

Her black lab-retriever Marcie is off like a shot — then briefly loses interest to pursue a smell; runs over to bite the twig and bring it back, tail wagging furiously the whole way.

It’s a rare break for Marcie, a service dog that opens doors, turns on lights, picks up dropped objects, retrieves food from the refrigerator, socks from the dryer and often pulls Fox in her wheelchair.

Marcie and Fox, a 24-year-old education major from Columbus, are enjoying what several industry groups said may be the only park for service dogs in the U.S., expanding on Wright State’s history as a pioneer in serving disabled students.

Wright State, which has at least 550 students with disabilities and 15 with service dogs, opened the one-acre, $100,000 park Oct. 4.

Students with service dogs like it because it gives the animals a convenient and safe spot to exercise during the school day.

Jeff Vernooy, director of the university’s Office of Disability Services, said the dog park was created at the request of students and funded through private donations.

Ringed by a black chain-link fence, the park features a grassy area, three concrete drainage pipes for running through, and a drinking fountain with a ground-level bowl for canines.

“It just gets her a place to be a dog and to run off some energy instead of doing it in my living room,” Fox said. “She can’t do that in class. She can’t do that when I’m working 12 hours a day.”

Owners of service dogs, which are trained to not be aggressive, are reluctant to take their animals to public dog parks not restricted to service dogs for fear they will be injured or attacked by aggressive canines.

“If someone’s dog came up to Marcie, I don’t believe she would defend herself,” said Fox, who was paralyzed nine years ago due to complications from medicine she received while being treated for leukemia.

Wright State, which has about 16,000 students, established a program for disabled students in 1970. Vernooy said the number of disabled students represents about 3 percent of Wright State’s population, which is higher than many other universities.

The school offers sign-language interpreters, computer labs adapted to students with disabilities, accessible campus housing, an underground tunnel system that provides easy access to virtually all campus buildings, and fee-based assistance with personal hygiene, eating and laundry.

“We believe our students on campus have the right to appropriate support services,” Vernooy said. “And we listen to what our students tell us.”

Joan Froling, chairwoman of the nonprofit International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, said a dog’s health or psychological well-being can be harmed if the animal is forced to stay on leashes for long periods of time.

“Working dogs have a lot of stress, and going to a dog park would be a way to relieve that stress,” said Froling, who said the Wright State park is the first she had heard of for service dogs. “Good handlers look for ways to alleviate the stress when the dog is off-duty.”

Fox said that not only does her dog accompany her to classes — walking about two miles a day on campus — but the animal is also with her when she performs her student-observation duties with fourth-graders at a nearby elementary school.

The dog must avoid the distraction of college students eager to pet the animal and restrain itself from carousing with fourth-graders eager to show their affection.

“It’s very likely in a college environment a dog is going to be around a lot of busy environments,” said Lea Ann Shearer, director of the Overland Park, Kan.-based Paws For Freedom, which trains service dogs. “There is just a lot of stimuli, and you have to make sure the dog can handle that.”

Shearer said it takes about two years to train a dog to help a person in a wheelchair. Labradors and retrievers are popular candidates because they are approachable and eager to please.

Student Samantha Laux, 19, of Bellefontaine and her golden retriever Dylan take advantage of the park.

Before the park opened, Laux, who is blind, deaf and mobile only by wheelchair, had to take Dylan to her relatives’ home in nearby Springfield or try to find a safe open area for her dog to exercise. She said the dog park is a godsend and serves as a release for Dylan.

“He works all day,” said Laux.