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WAGS program seeks volunteer puppy raisers

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Photo by Lukas Keapproth

Magic, a service dog, pulls on a rope to open the door for his owners, Sheela and Art Arnold.

Photo

Photo by Lukas Keapproth

Magic, a service dog, delivers paper from the printer to his owner, Sheela Arnold.

JANESVILLE — Magic is no ordinary dog.

He opens doors, picks things off the floor, flushes the toilet, brings in the daily newspaper and retrieves papers from the computer printer.

The Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs in August of 2000 matched the black Labrador/golden retriever mix with Sheela Arnold, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy.

Since then Magic, now 13, has been helping Sheela and her husband, Art, who has polio, maintain their independence.

“He’s a wonderful companion and a great pet,’’ Sheela said.

That’s why when Magic became ill a couple years ago, Sheila registered for another WAGS service dog. Two years later, she is among 15 people with disabilities in Rock, Dane and parts of Milwaukee and Columbia counties waiting for a WAGS dog, said Aaron Backer, executive director.

The wait time is at least two years because WAGS usually has only eight or nine volunteer puppy trainers, who help raise, train and socialize puppies in their homes. The work one-on-one with a WAGS training director and get mentoring from other experienced puppy raisers, Backer said.

Three puppies are in training now, two are on their way from breeders and three other breeders have promised puppies to WAGS in the fall. The next training session is scheduled to begin the second week of July, Backer said.

“If we don’t have enough puppy trainers, that means the person is going to wait longer. So we made a commitment at the beginning of this year to recruit at least 15 puppy trainers by the end of the year so we could cut the wait time in half,’’ he said.

WAGS seeks volunteers who love dogs and have a desire to improve the quality of another person’s life, Backer said.

Puppy trainers must be dedicated. The training process can take up to two years and initially includes six months of weekly travel to the WAGS Madison facility for class work.

“Many times people are interested, but have something—work or family members—in their lives that prevents them from following through. You’re not able to leave the dog at home while you work. If you work 40 hours a week, you lose too much training and socialization. So if a person can’t take their dog to work, it puts them out of contention as a trainer for us,’’ Backer said.

Since WAGS started in 1987 in Janesville, it has placed 101 trained companion service dogs with those who are physically disabled—people with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, neuromuscular disease, cerebral palsy—and today has about 45 matches.

WAGS has no puppy trainers in the Janesville.

“It’s certainly an area we want to grow in. What prompts people to call us is when they see a WAGS dog in public. So we need to have dogs out in the Janesville area,” Backer said.

Sheela agreed.

“If there are no volunteers, there will be no dogs to help people,’’ she said.

Life without Magic, who will become the Arnold’s family pet when retired, is unimaginable.

“For us, it’s sometimes impossible to do the things he does,” Art said.

“He’s just one of the family,” Sheela said, “and such a good helper.’’