Service dogs can be a lifesaver for people who are visually impaired, suffer from PTSD or any number of other issues and two Bishop Kelley High School students are helping get those animals ready for action.
Every Thursday, both high school students take their dogs to a training class. They're learning how to teach them certain tasks to help someone with special needs. But they've become a special part of the school as well.
They're not your average high school boys. They don't care about sports or girls, but they are here to learn.
"It feels weird if I don't go anywhere without him," Bishop Kelley senior Catie McCharen said.
JJ and Cooper strut the halls of Bishop Kelley High School. They're service dogs in training.
"He has to be able to know the difference between a leash, keys and a phone," sophomore Grace Ritchie said. "He has to be able to open the fridge, take socks off and turn off the lights."
Both yellow labs have to know how to handle different types of environments.
"They have to get used to everything because you never know where they are going to be with the person they are paired with," Ritchie said.
Cooper is the second dog senior Catie McCharen has trained through Therapeutics Service Dogs.
"He is actually going to be a mobility dog and work with a man in a wheelchair," she said.
She trains Cooper to the environment he'll go to when his training is complete, like going from class to class in a wheelchair.
"He's learning to pull it, he walks right beside it and if the man were to drop a phone or his keys or something, he could just reach down and pick it up and place it in his lap," McCharen said.
Cooper and JJ are just the latest comet trainees. Bishop Kelley students have been training service animals for four years. But McCharen and Ritchie are this year's trainers.
"It just shows kind of the heart they've been given from their families and the schools they've come from and we just love them," Bishop Kelley president Father Brian O'Brien said. "We're very proud."
One day they'll be eyes for the blind or companions for someone in need, but for now, they're just comets.
"He's definitely my best friend," McCharen said.
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