Feature

BY KYRA MOTYKA

Editor

Two beloved service dogs, Eunice and Adeena, visit Kaneland every so often to provide emotional support to many of our students. Taking even five minutes to pet the dogs and enjoy their presence can relieve stress and immediately benefit someone’s mental wellbeing. Students are always overwhelmed with joy to hear that the emotional support dogs are coming, but there is so much more to their stories than what you might see during a brief encounter in the cafeteria.

“Adeena is a real retriever. She loves to play what we call ‘get-andgive’ with a tennis ball. Throw it, and she’ll bring it back. That is her favorite thing,” Adeena’s caregiver and handler Shar Farran said. “She also likes to go to the feed store…she loves everyone at the feed store and all the different scents.”

While Adeena’s favorite hobby might be playing fetch with a tennis ball, Eunice prefers a real chase. She likes to run around and hunt animals.

“[Eunice] is more of a hunter, so if there’s a squirrel outside, she’ll go and chase it,” Eunice’s caregiver and handler Jan Pemoller said. “She gets her exercise.”

Fetching tennis balls and chasing squirrels only scratch the surface of what the dogs like to do for fun. Eunice and Adeena are best friends even outside of work.

“Eunice likes to go visit Adeena,” second caregiver and handler of Eunice, Ray Pemoller, said.

“They’re best buddies. Best furry buddies. BFBs,” Jan said.

The dogs began their 15-month training at just eight weeks old, with Adeena having been trained at the nowclosed Dwight Women’s Prison. Eunice and Adeena are six and 12 years old, respectively.

“They would train the inmates, and they’d then be certified to train dogs. Adeena was the first one that went to the prison to be trained. They wanted to see how it would work,” Farran said. “It worked very well. Adeena was the pioneer, and it went so well with her that they had about 20 or 25 dogs trained there after her.”

When the prison closed, Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) had to find their own trainers with their own training program, which is where Eunice was trained.

“There are actually over 30 different commands that they’re trained for - the standard types of things that a registered service dog would have,” Ray said. “In addition to that, the dogs are socialized [to humans] because they’re trained to work in an environment with lots of people. We expose them to loud noises, big crowds, to go into retail businesses and restaurants, so nothing really surprises them.”

The purebred golden retrievers are just as happy to see us as we are to see them.

“Adeena gets out of the car [at Kaneland], and her ears perk up. Her tail perks up and she prances. They love it. They just love it,” Farran said.

“Eunice runs to the doors when she sees her bag, and she’s like, ‘Where are

we going?’ She knows she’s going to be with people when she sees her backpack and vest,” Jan said. “The vest does not go on until we actually get out of the car, so she’s not wearing it unless she’s working.” These hard-working dogs are able to tell that it’s time for their work to begin just by seeing their vests and backpacks. “They’re trained with the vests on, so they associate that when the vest goes on, they’re on their best behavior. When the vest comes off, they’re regular dogs. They’re never really crazy and wild, but they can act like normal dogs,” Ray said. Although students at Kaneland mostly see them for fun, Eunice and Adeena have both helped people who are healing after disastrous situations. “We were all just in Belvidere schools. They had a tragedy there; they had a fire and lost three students. So we get emergency calls and go in for things like that to calm down a situation and give comfort,” Farran said. “[At Kaneland], we’re here for fun and some de-stressing. We know that schools are a spot for stress.” The Pemollers agreed that the dogs are able to absorb the stress of humans. “I think the dogs will take the stress of the people into themselves,” Jan said. “I don’t know how to explain it.” “I mean, when we’ve been in really stressful enviLeft: Eunice and Adeena are frequent visitors to Kaneland High School, where they bring joy to students. Top right: The dogs sit in the cafeteria for all three lunch periods, and students can walk up at any time to see them. Botton right: The dogs associ Photos by Kyra Motyka ronments, like shootings or deaths, [Eunice] will come home and just go in the yard ate the sight of these backpacks with school, and this excites them for visiting students. and run and run,” Ray said. “It just burns off the stress that she’s absorbed from the people who are there.” While running around the yard after a long day always seems to resolve the dogs’ stress, their handlers are sure to keep a close eye on them during their work day. “We watch the dogs very carefully. Eunice and Adeena are what we call pros. They know what they’re doing,” Farran said. “It really depends on your dog. Some dogs can get more nervous and more stressed, but these two? You don’t ever see them nervous or stressed.”