A new student with a furry face, floppy ears and a tail recently joined the Dickinson community. The Dog House, a Dickinson organization responsible for raising and training service dogs, introduced Dino, an energetic six-month old golden retriever, to campus on Monday, March 18.

Through a nonprofit organization called the North Star Foundation, students involved in the Dog House are training Dino to accompany a boy in Massachusetts with high-functioning autism. Currently, Anthony Silverman ’12 is providing housing for the dog. When in Massachusetts, Dino will be at the boy’s side at all times, including in a classroom environment.

“In terms of socialization, we need to be able to take him anywhere a normal person would,” said Lauren Holtz ’15, the student founder of the Dog House. In the meantime, students training Dino, known as members of “the Pack,” are focusing on situating Dino in his position as a working dog.

“Dino is not a pet, he is a tool. Different rules apply, but he is still a dog,” explained Holtz. For example, Dino must not misbehave on a walk or in a crowded room.

“When he is wearing a vest, he needs to be a respectful dog, a working dog,” said Sam Silvershein ’14, who, along with some of the others in the Dog House, has worked with and trained service dogs before. They are acting as Dino’s instructors while teaching other members how to train him.

“Even though it has been and will be a wonderful experience living around, raising and training a puppy while in college, ultimately these dogs aren’t for us,” said Carley Zarzeka ’15. “One of the most important things I hope Dog House will become at Dickinson is a platform to raise awareness of the disabilities the children who are getting the dogs have.”

In order to raise awareness, the Pack is training Dino to be comfortable in social settings and upcoming events.

“It would be nice to put things in perspective by working at the Dog House, doing something that will eventually have a greater effect on someone,” said Morissa Glatman ’14, who plans to join the Pack when she returns to campus from a semester in Copenhagen.

In the coming years, the Pack hopes that the experience of having service dogs around campus will change some of Dickinson’s students  minds. They hope that the student body will recognize some of the current social constructs that currently exist on Dickinson to and become more aware and accepting of social and mental disabilities and their presence in a community.