Marleigh Ballard, a junior pre-veterinary medicine major, PRoUD's webmaster and ag ambassador, shares Brennan-Barbeau’s enthusiasm for the organization and, during the spring semester, raised Frasier, a black lab. She highlighted the benefit of raising a guide dog in training in the university environment. 

“Being on a college campus sets these dogs up for success,” Ballard said. “They learn to settle in class, handle unpredictable environments and be adaptable. By the time they return for advanced training, they’ve already been exposed to so much.”

CANR students are also raising dogs destined for services other than guiding those visually impaired through Collar Scholars.

“We raise dogs that will go on to assist people with disabilities, including amputees, individuals with diabetes and veterans with PTSD,” explained Madelin Bareh, a sophomore pre-veterinary medicine major and Collar Scholars member. "Some dogs even go into research or police work, learning to detect scents in samples."

Bareh also explained that by raising puppies for these organizations, it can help lower the overall costs of a service dog, making service dogs more accessible to those who may need them. 

“I grew up with cousins with diabetes, and they never were able to get service dogs because of the cost,” she said. “So I really respected that Canine Companions are completely nonprofit so all the work we do will help those who wouldn’t be able to afford it.” 

There are several career paths these puppies can take once they graduate from formal training — from seeing eye dogs to diabetic alert dogs to police work.

But, the dogs are not the only ones preparing for their futures — the students thoroughly benefit as well. Brennan-Barbeau sees the experience as something that enhances her pre-veterinary medicine courses.

“Working with my dog, Ody, has given me a strong background in animal husbandry,” Brennan-Barbeau said. “It’s not clinical, but you need to understand what’s normal for a dog to recognize when something is off.”

In addition to learning about normal animal behavior, having a companion animal can teach students a lot about the varied day-to-day for veterinary professionals, according to Ballard. 

”It’s not just about the fun of having a puppy — it teaches you responsibility and how to balance everything,” Ballard said. “It’s great for veterinary students because it prepares you for the unpredictability of working with animals. You can’t always predict what each day will look like.”

Megha Talanayar, a junior pre-veterinary medicine major and member of Guiding Eyes for the Blind believes raising a puppy, Glenn, taught her more about balancing her personal life and what her future career could look like. 

“It’s so rewarding to have the opportunity to have a dog even living on campus doing everything with me. It’s even made the transition into college easier for me,” said Talanayar, who is also an ag ambassador. “It’s taught me a lot of responsibility for another life, and I feel I learned a lot from Glenn while he was learning the skills he would need to excel in his future training.”