Canines accompany reps at State House as part of ‘Dogs for a Day’

Rainbow, a six-year-old black Labrador retriever, sat attentively on the marble floor of the State House building.  Despite the loud chatter and camera flashes coming from the 20 or so members of the House and journalists surrounding her, she remained calm and continued wagging her tail for spectators.

On Wednesday, Rainbow and five of her fellow canines from the National Education for Assistance Dogs Services, a nonprofit organization located in Princeton that trains assistance dogs, followed 10 representatives around the State House as part of the first-ever “Dogs for a Day.”

NEADS officials and Rep. Cory Atkins, D-Concord, said they organized the event as part of an effort to raise awareness about the nonprofit.

“To some small degree it gives a representative a taste of what life is like for someone with a disability,” said John Moon, director of programs and Communication at NEADS, in an interview. “Most of us here are whole people and it’s hard to imagine someone who uses a wheelchair or crutches – how would you bend over to pick up your keys?”

According to Moon, it takes two years and $25,000 to train one dog in the Princeton facility, which is why the nonprofit “relies on generosity of people that believe in what we do.”

“It’s more to let the public know about the program because NEADS lives on donations,” Atkins said in an interview.

Atkins, who is a foster parent for NEADS dogs on weekends, said she has always been an active part of the organization.

“I first came upon NEADS because there are two prisons in my district,” she said. “In the low security prison, they train these dogs in half the time anyone else does. And people like me, who are foster parents, take the dogs out – to the movies, to dinner, to church, shopping, every place a dog would go with disabled people.”

Atkins said NEADS selects dogs for the program that “come to humans and want engage because NEADS knows those are the easiest to train.” After their training is complete, the dogs then go on to aid those who are disabled, autistic or combat vets, she said.

Rainbow, for example, was matched with a veteran with a double amputee, which means he had to wear a harness to balance on his legs.  But after about two years, Atkins said the veteran had gotten so good at putting the harness on, he no longer needed Rainbow’s assistance.

“[The dogs] know how to do many things – open doors, help vets with post traumatic stress,” she said.  “Their real talent is helping humans . . .  if I were ever sick or disabled in any way the first thing I’d want is a dog.”

NEADS frequently takes dogs to different places for field trips in places such as the State House so the dogs can get accustomed to loud noises, different smells, different people, situations that change quickly and camera noises, Atkins said.

Kevin Lambert, an employee at the Mass. Department of Veterans Services, has been using Ronnie, a NEADS dog, for about two years through the program.

“[Today] is an opportunity to shed light in an atmosphere that we were never able to be before – when you get publicity to this level it’ll spread throughout the Commonwealth hopefully,” Lambert said.  “There’s lots of representatives here from all parts of the state on a daily basis so them seeing the dogs in training hopefully they will be more encouraging to refer people to receive the dogs.”

One attendee of “Dogs for a Day,” who has a hearing disability, said he has been using his dog, Kinley, for five years but has been a service animal user for 13 years.

“As a person who uses a service animal, I want one to have a good foundation, because if they don’t do their job well it could potentially cause harm to me,” he said in an interview. “I think today’s important because this goes to laying the foundation for what these dogs will become and service dogs and what the legislatures are doing are pairing off with the dog and teach the dog not to be afraid of new experiences.”

With leashes in hand, state legislatures kicked off their day at about 10:30 a.m., following directions from Moon.

“What you’re going to do today is simply have the dog with you wherever you go, whatever you do,” Moon told the room of legislatures.

“An assistant dog’s love is unconditional. There are functional things they can do – but their emotional connection to people is uncompromised by anything they just want to be loved and be loved back,” Moon added in an interview. “They are good loyal companions and do things people with a disability can’t do on their own.

Moon said NEADS will probably coordinate with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office in late November or early December for a similar event.