Roxy, our Wags 4 Warriors puppy, is spending more time in the community as part of her training to become more comfortable in a variety of situations.
"Go say hi" is the newest command our service-dog-in-training is mastering. To practice, she appeared at Key Bank’s military appreciation event.
"She needs to be able to be in front of people for the distractions and for the release to go say 'hi'," explained Roxy’s handler Kayla DeLorenzo.
When released to say "hello" Roxy got in lots of belly rubs and kisses. Her excitement is certainly cute, but Kayla says Roxy has to master this part of training.
"It’s hard because she’s still a puppy," she said. "She’s very laid back. You can tell she gets excited though. She really wants to say hi to people but she doesn’t go until you go say hi."
When Roxy’s working, with her vest on, you can notice a difference in her demeanor.
"You can tell that she acts better and more like a service dog when the vest is on," Kayla pointed out.
Clearly an important part to being a good service dog, but when you are training a puppy, there are sometimes a few surprises. For Roxy, it’s barking.
"Lately, she’s just barking initially when she sees something," Kayla said with a laugh. "I don’t really know what that is, but we’re going work on it, though."
You can follow Roxy’s journey here on WKYC.com and also on Instagram, @roxy_the_service_dog.