Casper at the Lincoln Memorial
PAALS has five dogs in their final stages of advanced training that will be placed with people in need this summer. During this time the dogs are being specialized for their future roles as working dogs. One special opportunity presented itself when PAALS was invited onto the Honor Flight that brings veterans to see their war memorials in Washington, D.C. Casper made PAALS proud as he took in all the new experiences. Four of the five dogs were part of our First Prison PAALS class and were raised for part of their lives at Kershaw Correctional Institute. The fifth dog was PAALS first stud for our breeding program and one of the first PAALS dogs.
By the end of this summer clients will spend 2 1/2 weeks in Columbia learning to work with their dogs and learning the special skills that each dog was trained specifically for them. They must pass their Assistance Dog International public access test and PAALS skills test before leaving for home with their new partner. We are especially excited about this class of soon to be graduates as they are our first group of clients in the midlands of SC, where we are based.