BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Service dogs from NEADS World Class Service Dogs took a duck boat tour around Boston on Sunday as part of their public transportation training.
NEADS, formerly known as National Education for Assistance Dog Services and Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans, is a non-profit established in 1976 to train service dogs for people with a variety of physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
“They’re highly trained service dogs who can perform up to 50 or 60 different tasks and commands,” said Cathy Zemaitis, who is the chief development and programs officer at NEADS.
NEADS and Boston Duck Tours have had a partnership for 11 years, and on Sunday they recognized that relationship by bringing about half a dozen service dogs on board one of their duck boats.
The black and yellow Labradors and their human handlers went around the city of Boston on a World War II amphibious vehicle, which is one of Boston Duck Tours’ boats.
Zemaitis described the partnership between NEADS and Duck Tours. “It’s just a whole lot of fun. It doesn’t matter the weather. It’s always fun when you’re on a duck boat, and it’s becoming a tradition.”
She also explained what the experience is like for the service dogs on board.
“[For] our dogs that are already matched and have gone through the training, it’s not much of a challenge for them. They’re old hands at unusual situations. But for our pups in training, it’s a challenge. It’s an opportunity for us to see how they handle an unusual situation.”
Rob Arico, who helps to socialize and desensitize the dogs, explained why experiencing public transportation is such a vital part of service dog training.
“We take them on bus rides [and] trains because we don’t know if the client that they ultimately end up with might need to rely on public transportation. So the dog can’t be scared every time the air brakes go off on a bus.”
The NEADS dogs’ handlers also received some paw-shaped chocolate — for the humans, not the dogs — from Harbor Sweets in Salem, which is another one of the organization’s partners.
WBZ NewsRadio's Suzanne Sausville (@WBZSausville) reports.
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