Service dogs train with Seminole County Firefighters

OVIEDO, Fla. - With a fire truck's siren blaring, twenty golden retrievers did... nothing. It was exactly the way they’d been trained.

"You know, that's our job as dog handlers to make sure they're exposed to all of that stimulus, so when they go to their handler they ignore it, and they pay full attention to their handler," said Randi Scherer, a volunteer dog trainer.

Scherer and service dog Ronan were at Seminole County Fire Station 29, Saturday morning. They work with New Horizons, a group that trains service dogs. Their purpose was get these service animals ready for the world's sights - and sounds - so they could focus on their future clients.

"Everybody here has a dog that is not theirs, and they're raising it for someone else," explained volunteer dog trainer Laura Barnett. The dogs get between two and three years of training, after that, they're sent-off to live with their new client.

"We're trying to get our dogs exposed to as many different sights and sounds so when they see them in the real world, if they're with someone who's in a wheelchair or with someone who has mobility issues, stability issues, these dogs won't freak out," said Barnett.

The dogs go to people with disabilities and special needs, including people with autism and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress. These populations are more likely to be around first responders and aboard ambulances, so this kind of training is crucial.

"That's one of the things we're actually working on today," said David Grant, Seminole Co. Fire Dept. Battalion Chief, "to see how are they going to react, how are they going to fit, are they going to be able to secure them, because we can take riders with us, they just have to be secured properly, so we're trying to make sure we can do that with them today, so it's actually helping out with that scenario."

New Horizons Service Dogs also work at rehab facilities and nursing homes. All the dogs made the grade on Saturday, none of them reacted badly to the sirens or loud noises. "All these dogs are handling it calmly," said Barnett, "and that's what we would hope for."