GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Life EMS in Kent and Ottawa counties closed out National EMS Week with some puppy love!
Dogs training to become assistance dogs under Paws With A Cause (PAWS) and their trainers stopped by Central Operations on Friday for a meet and greet event, which also gave the pups an opportunity to adapt to being around ambulances, EMS tells us.
“We like to expose them to the sights, smells and sounds of medical equipment when they are puppies as it helps to prepare them in the event their partner ever needs medical assistance once they are placed as an Assistance Dogs,” says Julie Thorington with PAWS. “It makes the sights and smells more familiar to them and not as scary. Plus, we want to show some puppy love to our first responders during EMS week and thank them for all they do.”
Thorington says puppies are assigned to PAWS volunteers when they are 8 weeks old until they are 14 months old to develop obedience and adapt to real-world scenarios.
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