This semester marks a new milestone for Future Leader Dogs at OU, as they are the first club of its kind to offer an in-house pilot program, allowing students to raise a future leader dog in the dorms. With the semester halfway completed, puppy raisers Stephanie Collino and Eleanor Kuntz have been raising their future leader dogs for the past couple of months in Oak View Hall.
The Honors College has had a good relationship with Future Leader Dogs at OU, offering the Laidlaw room in Oak View Hall as a puppy-friendly room for the club’s meetings. For this new pilot program, the Honors College and university housing have allowed dog raisers to move in with the Honors College students.
“The Honors College has always, since the program started, been very supportive. It was just a matter of working with the Honors College and housing, because even though the Honors College is the building itself, housing still runs the facility,” Collino said. “We’re very grateful for that collaboration because the two of us that are in the dorm are students that wanted to do this but wouldn’t have been able to without an indoor program.”
While it is a great stride getting the puppies in the dorms, it doesn’t come without a hiccup or two.
“We were supposed to have the first two dorms on the very first level, right by the exit door, so easy in and out,” Kuntz said. “If [Kuntz’s puppy Pluto] is having an emergency, we can just go through a door and he’s outside to go to the bathroom, but we ended up being on the third floor on the very last corner door in the hallway, so we’re actually a lot farther from outside.”
With the pilot program taking place in the Honors College dormitory, students may wonder if they are required to be an honors student before starting the program, and the unfortunate answer is yes.
“Originally, [University Housing] told me that I wouldn’t need to be an Honors student to make the move and be a part of the Future Leader Dog Program, and then housing changed their mind on that and said, ‘Actually, we would prefer if the students you chose for this pilot program were Honors students,’” Kuntz said. I had the grades to get in, and I met all the requirements, so it wasn’t a hassle for me to join the Honors College, but it wasn’t originally a choice I would have made for myself.”
Regardless of a few bumps in the road, having the puppy raisers living on campus is a monumental step for the club, creating great opportunities for students who want to raise a leader dog.
“It’s been an amazing opportunity for both me and Pluto,” Kuntz said. “The Future Leader Dog Club itself is very nice and very fun, and I was enjoying myself even before I picked up a Future Leader Dog of my own.”
With puppy classes once a month, a supportive group of puppy raisers, and a brand new in-house pilot program, raising a Future Leader Dog is more accessible than ever. For more information on how to get involved, visit the club’s GrizzOrgs page.
