Pre-business junior Kelsey Braxton hopes to join SPOT with mechanical engineering technology junior Tim Kagel. | Justin Cross/ The Cougar
Usually, if a student walks into a class with a dog, they will be kicked out. When mechanical engineering technology junior Tim Kagel brought Olive and Ella, two Jack Russell terriers, into class, he was performing a service.
Kagel hopes to form Service Puppies and Outreach Trainers (SPOT), an organization that provides service dogs throughout the country. It will collaborate with Southeastern Guide Dogs, a Florida-based nonprofit founded in 1982.
“A lot of people see a dog and say, ‘Oh cool, a dog,’” said pre-business junior Kelsey Braxton. “Most people know not to pet them, but a lot of people aren’t really aware of the courtesy guidelines around working dogs.”
According to the Southeastern Guide Dogs’ website, the organization serves more than 400 graduates across the U.S. and place more than 100 dogs each year into careers to help people.
SPOT’s short-term goal is to raise 12-week-old puppies so they can become guide or service dogs in the future. SPOT, however, ultimately hopes to operate independently from SGD.
“(The fact that there is no office in Houston) is part of the reason why, eventually, I would like for us to become autonomous from SGD,” Kagel said. “We could also do service puppies out of the shelters and save some lives also.”
A student who lives on campus or apartment and a student who commutes may co-raise a puppy for about a year, which is the period SGD gives the dogs. SPOT doesn’t pay for any major medical expenses or any vaccinations; SGD covers all of the related costs.
“(By co-raising) the dog, it gets to deal with the city life, an apartment type of thing and also living in a house with a yard,” Kagel said. “It gives it more exposure.”
Kagel shared his idea on several UH Facebook pages to get people’s attention.
That’s how Braxton, who has always been interested in dog training, found out about SPOT.
Something Braxtons said she would like to see with this organization is to educate the student population about service animals and help end the stigma around service animals and about people who have them — especially for disabilities that are not visible.
One student, theater production senior Thomas, has a service dog named Aurora, who was rescued from a San Antonio animal shelter three years ago. Thomas, who has PTSD and anxiety from his service in the military, preferred not to give a last name.
“It is a huge help for a school community and the public because of all the prompts that they have and with issues going on these days, whether they be domestic or real world, PTSD and anxiety dogs are great,” Thomas said.
SPOT is still in its early stages. There are some steps that he and potential members have to complete to officially become one of the 500-plus currently active organizations on campus.
“I am really passionate about trying to help other people and really passionate about animals,” Braxton said. “Service animals combine those two together, so you can work with animals in a way that it helps people.”
