Well hello everyone! My name is Good Will and I am a five month old golden retriever puppy; my friends just call me Will. I moved to Chattanooga, TN from Walhalla, SC and have taken on a really big responsibility as being the official spokes dog for the Goodwill Assistance Dog Academy. I have a tough job ahead of me as I will be going through service dog training and helping to raise funds for my new school that I am starting. My school will be based out of the Mckamey Animal Care and Adoption Center and will train rescued dogs to be assistance dogs for the disabled--how neat! You can check out the Mckamey Center at www.mckameyanimalcenter.org. Training is serious business. I work really hard to learn all of my new commands. My trainer, Sarah, hopes that when we are done I will have mastered 90 different commands! Can you believe that? So far we have covered the basics like sit and stay, downs, and waits, but we tackle some tougher stuff too like light switches and opening drawers and doors. Some things are tricky but as long as she has a treat in her hand for me, I will usually give it a shot! I'll post some video of me practicing my training so that you can see me in action! Other than training, I am working really hard to tell everyone I know about the program. The Goodwill Assistance Dog Academy, like all Goodwill missions, aims to provide our assistance dogs FREE of charge to those in need, so we are trying to raise lots of money to get started. Did you all know that the typical cost of an assistance dog is about $25,000? Wow! No wonder only 1% of people who could benefit from an assistance dog can actually afford one! Hopefully, with lots of donations and support, we can train many dogs to help many people that otherwise would not have such a great opportunity. Cross your fingers--we have our work cut out for us!
Now for those of you who like following blogs, I promise to update mine and keep you posted on how my training is going AND where all I will be making appearances around Chattanooga. So far, I have been to the Tennessee Public Health Association conference in Nashville, TN, the Hamilton County Department of Education in Chattanooga, TN, and the St Francis of Assisi's Blessing of the Animals in Ooltewah, TN--all this and I am just getting started!
Stay tuned and I promise to tell you what I'm up to!
