Photo by Payton Egnew
On April 19, Wags for Mags and its parent organization Paws Giving Independence (PGI) hosted an event for Bradley SERVE’s National Volunteer Week. This event was hosted to inform students about their organizations and how they train service dogs to help those with disabilities.
Wags for Mags, a student-led organization on Bradley’s campus that trains service dogs, was launched in 2012 to give students a chance to become involved with the training process.
The group got its name in memory of faculty advisor Stacie Bertram’s daughter Maggie, who passed away in a car accident in 2012. Maggie was a volunteer at PGI and trained service dogs.
At the start of the event, junior computer information systems major and Wags for Mags member Hannah Rebhan described how to become involved with the organization.
According to Rebhan, one way to get involved with Wags for Mags is to become a student trainer, who can foster a puppy anywhere from eight weeks to six months. The trainers also foster dogs and become a transitional trainer, who gets placed with a dog to help them get familiar with society and their new potential owner.
These placements can happen while a student is still living in a dorm. With this arrangement, the dogs live in the dorm, go to class and socialize with students around campus.
In order to become a trainer, students fill out a paper application, interview with executive members on the board of Wags for Mags and partake in a handling session with PGI.
“Once you get into Wags, you have to get twelve hours of public training with a PGI member in order to test for your public,” freshman kinesiology and health science major Mackenzie Janssens said. “A public is how you are able to work with a dog in a vest in public.”
Wags for Mags is partnered with PGI, a non-profit organization in Peoria and Bloomington at ISU that trains service dogs. To become a handler, one needs to go through PGI and receive proper training. PGI also covers vet bills for all the dogs in training while Wags for Mags covers the food and toy costs. PGI has sponsors who help pay for the $5000 cost of the two-year training.
Kassidy, a third grade student with muscular dystrophy, started out volunteering at PGI until they noticed how well she was at training and said she was ready for her own service dog. Kassidy then took several dogs home with her to determine which dog was the best fit and landed on her current service dog, Tibbs.
Along with training dogs on campus, PGI also trains them at the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. During training, the dogs learn how to help someone who’s having a seizure, along with learning helpful commands and how to behave around wheelchairs. After working at the facility, trainers can determine which dogs will be best suited for tasks such as hearing work, partial sight or mobility.
“With COVID, we weren’t able to get in there, we used to get in there a couple days a month,” Donna Kosner, Director of Community Outreach, Education and Applications, said. “We started the furlough so from a Friday to a Friday every month, some of the dogs come out and go into a furlough home to get the public access training they’re not getting at the prison.”
Kosner added that furlough has helped with training the dogs because when at the facility, the dogs don’t see a supermarket and kids on a regular basis.
Wags for Mags members demonstrate skills that the service dogs in training have learned. By the end of the training period, each dog has been taught 30-40 new skills.
Lucy, a service dog in training, demonstrated the command “touch.” This command helps people open doors and push things in order to better assist them. Another service dog then demonstrated how to sit, retrieve items, and use pressure to help someone with anxiety.
Wags for Mags shared its social media [Wags for Mags on Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok] and said that any Bradley students who want to volunteer can attend their bi-weekly classes in Markin Recreation Center to get a feel for the organization.
