Canine companions: Five College students foster, train puppies to become service dogs through Diggity Dogs partnership

AMHERST — Ever since Cash, a purebred black Labrador retriever, was about 8 weeks old, he has been University of Massachusetts senior Rachel Pranga’s constant companion, with her around the clock no matter where she goes or what she does.

“He literally comes with me everywhere: the grocery store, church, class. He even came home with me over the summer,” says Pranga, a senior majoring in landscape architecture.

“For the most part, people seem to like him,” Pranga said as she and Cash made her way to the John W. Olver Design Building for a studio class. “He’s quiet, he’s not getting into anything.”

Cash has come a long way from when he was much smaller, taking 10 minutes or so to climb each level of the classroom building’s staircases, and being uncomfortable riding a bus. “When he was a puppy he would grab stuff and chew,” Pranga said.

Most of Pranga’s attention is in getting Cash ready to become a service dog by the time he is 2 years old, sometime after Pranga graduates next spring, and when he will be assigned to a client to meet that person’s specific needs.

“At that point he’ll be almost ready, but will need another few months of training,” Pranga said.

Cash is one of several dogs present at UMass, as well as the other Five College campuses, being prepared for Diggity Dogs Service Dogs Inc., a Greenfield nonprofit founded more than a decade ago to provide psychiatric, medical alert and mobility service dogs for people across the country.

Executive Director Sarah Meikle said she created the enterprise after studying psychology at Smith College and finding that pets offer innate support and a social bridge, while also handling various tasks.

“Dogs serve a purpose that nothing else quite does,” Meikle said. “The way you go through the world is transformed by having the dog.”

Meikle said she was blown away by the case studies of the benefits service dogs could provide, from assisting a woman who suffered for bipolar disorder and manic episodes to an autistic child who couldn’t make it through a supermarket without a meltdown.

“When I realized no one else was producing dogs for this, I thought I would dedicate my life to this,” Meikle said. “I’m lucky I came to this the way I did, coming at it from an academic standpoint. Everything I do is rooted in science and data, and I have developed a curriculum that isn’t traditional dog training, but is a deep dive into behavioral psychology.”

Over time, Diggity Dogs has turned to a puppy-raiser model, where from birth the dogs get crate training and a socialization period, becoming accustomed to various sounds. Meikle said she wanted to have control of those first two months of development.

College students

College students have become prominent among the 30 to 40 full-time fosters and stable of relief fosters, and Meikle created a formal partnership with UMass and its animal science program. The campus life offers what Meikle calls a socialization hotbed, with the dogs able to sit in classrooms, go up and down elevators and escalators and ride on buses.

“A lot of students are keen to learn about dogs and cats,” Meikle said.

Angelina Egan, client liaison and lead trainer at Diggity Dogs, got started as a Mount Holyoke College student and found Diggity Dogs “wildly impressive.” This fall, for the first time, Amherst College is part of the program, with senior Ayvret van Waveren, a political science major who will be heading to law school next fall, taking on raising 7-month old Darwin, a Goldador.

Each week the students come to three-hour evening sessions led by Meikle and Egan, going over 80 to 100 basic obedience behaviors the dogs are learning in the thee first years of their lives.

“The core curriculum gets them to a nice age of maturity, where you get some sense of what they can offer,” Meikle said.

Two new behaviors are learned each week, and the students submit 20 minutes of video homework and get three opportunities for success at verbal cues and three chances for success at physical cues, and also have access to instructional videos.

As they get more advanced, the dogs will then have added tasks that can be taken on, like turning lights on and off, picking up dropped items, finding cellphones and medical kits, being a space extender and providing deep pressure therapy for those with sensory sensitivity.

After about a year a dog is assigned to a client, placed with people following a rigorous application process.

Meikle said her nonprofit continues to grow, having a first-ever high school trainer in partnership with the animal science program at Franklin County Technical School in Turners Falls, and is also working with Holyoke and Greenfield community colleges.

“It’s an amazing community,” Meikle said. “Students are really supportive of each other.”

Experience

Sophie Callaghan, a UMass senior majoring in animal science, began as a substitute foster during her sophomore year and earlier this year has been working full time with Caleb, a chocolate Labrador retriever.

“He lives in my apartment, he goes to classes with me, I bring him to my internship,” Callaghan said, adding that they also ventured out to a pumpkin patch together, though the organic chemistry laboratory is one place Caleb can’t go.

“He does great in a campus setting, there are so many distractions here,” Callaghan said. “He loves me and a lot of friends in class know him as overall a positive presence.”

Each day about 30 minutes of training is done.

“Angelina and Sarah will give us homework to introduce commands that go beyond the basics, like sit and stay,” Callaghan said.

Callaghan has also interned at Diggity Dogs, helping with puppy socialization, feeding puppies and cleaning their area and is grateful to have opportunities to have Caleb and other dogs play off leash, as well as to see the work done by veterinarians firsthand with the dogs. Callaghan intends to go to veterinary school after UMass.

Callaghan said while she was separated from Caleb over the summer, she made time to visit him. “Caleb has no idea that he has a pretty positive effect on other students,” Callaghan said. “Friends like him because he’s a stress reliever.”

Van Waveren learned about the program from a Hampshire College student in class at Amherst College and, though he likes dogs, had never cared for one, but thought it would be interesting to have one on campus. Friends and even his parents told him it would be mean excessive time and there would be a burden of having to buy the food. But while visiting Diggity Dogs, Egan matched him.

“Darwin jumped into my arms,” van Waveren said. “At that point, I said, ‘OK, I have to keep him.’”

“It’s definitely time consuming, but I’ve been very responsible with time management,” van Waveren said, walking Darwin five times a day and getting support from Meikle and Egan.

There are times it can be tricky, such as when writing his Law School Admission Test and having to be isolated in his room. He only brings Darwin to one class a week. “He’s an angel in that class, usually sleeping at my feet,” van Waveren said.

Van Waveren is not looking forward to having to giving Darwin up. “This is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” van Waveren said. “Darwin’s such a great companion and everyone loves him on campus.”

Pranga said the only downside she’s experienced is the commitment, getting involved in the program after her roommate, Evie Peyron, had trained a dog. “The first couple of months was an adjustment. I felt like my work quality went down a bit,” Pranga said.

Most students, though, find it improves their studies over time, Meikle said. “That’s because time management and responsibility is involved,” Meikle said, adding that they also gain skills, such as communication with the public to advocate for the dog.

Arriving for a studio class where students are working on a vision for improvements in downtown Lawrence, and will eventually be presenting plans to city officials, Pranga said she feeds Cash throughout the day, reinforcing his calm behavior, and makes sure he has water and gets in occasional walks, and goes on runs as long as 5 miles.

“He’s come so far,” Pranga said. “For the most part, he’s staying quite calm sitting at my feet, not grabbing things.”

When wearing his service dog vest and other equipment, like gentle leader and harness, he’s ready to go. “As soon as I put it on, he knows it’s time for school,” Pranga said.

Still, after exiting the PVTA bus together before heading to class, Cash briefly is curious about a bush along the sidewalk. “It’s like having a toddler,” Pranga said.

While Pranga said she has to do a lot of planning ahead of time, and occasionally seeks out a relief sitter to look after Cash, she will miss him when she graduates.

“I’d totally do it again, it’s been such a cool experience,” Pranga said

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.