You’ve probably all seen a Seeing Eye dog. But did you know that service dogs help people with lots of other kinds of disabilities? Come learn about what service dogs do (like pick up a dime off the floor and put it on the counter!) and watch one in action. This presentation is for all ages and will include information on how to be respectful of service dogs and their humans. Bring your curiosity and questions!

Susquehanna Service Dogs is part of Keystone Human Services and work to match people and dogs to form a successful partnership, enabling people to have the confidence to live more independently and do things they didn’t think were possible. SSD breeds, raises, trains, and places assistance and hearing dogs, as well as facility dogs, to assist children and adults with disability to lead the lives they want to live. SSD is a member of Assistance Dogs International and Animal Assisted Intervention International.

SSD Katydid is a 5-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever.  She was raised for her first 2 years by Susan and then decided that being a service dog was not the career she wanted. Her anxiety made it difficult for her to work full time and she is very happy now working part time as an Ambassador Dog for Susquehanna Service Dogs.  She is trained to do all the tasks that a service dog would be asked to do to assist someone and loves showing off those skills in demonstrations such as today. She also works with Animal Assisted Activities in a local psychiatric hospital and assists in interviewing people interested in having a service dog.

Susan Tyson has been volunteering with SSD for 20 years, has raised 17 puppies and trained 7 of them for demonstration and animal-assisted interventions, and presented hundreds of service dog demonstrations. She is an active participant in team trainings for new SSD partners as well as acting as a continued liaison for these new teams and providing animal assisted activities at a local psychiatric unit for the past 16 years.

Registration required.