Passion with a Purpose Dublin Coffman graduate works with service dogs By Brandon Klein
Since she could remember, Ashley Crotty has always had an interest in animals, especially dogs. “I just love how unconditional a dog’s love is,” the Dublin Coffman graduate says. Crotty’s family, however, couldn’t have a dog of their own because Crotty’s dad is allergic to them. So, she found the next best thing through 4 Paws for Ability, an organization that provides service dogs to children and veterans. “I thought this would be a great way to not only have dog time, but do something good,” Crotty says. She joined the organization through its collegiate chapter at The Ohio State University, where Crotty was taking col-
lege coursework while she was still a student at Coffman. Through the organization, she volunteers as a secondary handler, providing support to the main handlers who help train service dogs before they are paired with individuals with a disability. While the in-training service dogs have public access rights to places people typically can’t take pets, there are some situations when it’s not a good idea to bring the dogs. At OSU’s chapter, for instance, some student handlers may have laboratories and exams where bringing the dog isn’t ideal and, therefore, may need a secondary handler to watch the dog for a few hours. It’s also not ideal to have dogs spend a lot of time with their handlers. “We don’t want the dogs to get too attached to their primary handlers,” Crotty says. 20 • October/November 2020
On average, Crotty spends about 20 hours a week with an in-training service dog, but she’s gone up to as many as 40 hours. She spends time doing 15-minute obedience training sessions with the dogs, teaching them skills such as heel, sit and stay.
www.dublinlifemagazine.com
