Seemingly unwanted dogs are given a second chance to serve as a vital part of another being's life with Eagles Wings Service Dogs, based out of the Lycoming County SPCA, 2805 Reach Road.

During the course of two years, the organization has placed one special dog and has others joining the ranks of full-fledged service dogs.

Dogs are, in a sense, rescued from the SPCA to par­ticipate in the Eagles Wings program. The animals' backgrounds vary from abuse, starvation, neglect or just being homeless on the streets. Not all dogs are candidates for the service-dog lifestyle

Donna Brink, secretary of the Eagles Wings board, is one of five volunteers keeping the special organiza­tion running. Brink explained that an animal's tem­perament is the first and major contributing factor to the future of a dog in the program

Expanding upon a temperament test the SPCA con­ducts with healthy dogs, Eagles Wings' tests include a food test to see of they can take food from a dog. Also entailed in their testing is touching the dog for its reac­tion and a sort of staring contest. If the dog stares back, barks or jumps up, it's a sign of aggression that Eagles Wings finds undesirable. The group needs the dogs to respond to people around it instead of envi­ronmental elements and the animal must have a good retrieval response. The dog also must be a medium- to large-size dog and be easy to care for

If it is thought the dog might make a good candidate for the service program, a volunteer will take the dog into their home for a week or two to see how it responds to the indoor element. It's difficult to say how long it will take the dog to progress through this portion of its testing

Ann Sanders, vice president of Eagles Wings, com­mented that this portion of the dog's training could be a little tricky. The goal is to teach a dog from the SPCA house manners

"A lot of these dogs have problems," Sanders said. "They're abused, neglected and we have to take care of those issues first. Some aren't even house trained and some haven't lived in a house."

Not all dogs are acceptable. Eagles Wings has had two out of five dogs rejected during its two-year run­ning period, something that Sanders said can happen any time during their training.

"We have to be able to give them time because each dog is different," Sanders said.

Once the dog has reached a level of comfort inside the home of one of the volunteers, it is signed up for obedience classes through a course at the SPCA. Simple things such as come, sit and stay are taught here."

Understandably so, it will take months of training to reach the level where the dog is introduced into a pub­lic setting. Eventually social skills are taught to the dog by taking it into places where it will interact with people and other dogs.

Brink said the dogs are taken to parks, libraries and the Lycoming Mall. In advance training, the dogs are taken to restaurants and churches.

"We try to get them into every conceivable situation they might run into," Brink said.

The dogs also practice wearing their uniform. Each dog is required to wear a special cape while in public identifying it as a service dog. Their ensemble is com­plete with a patch that says `Please do not pet me, I'm a service dog."'

In order to be a service dog, the animals must learn skills, things that will make it invaluable to a potential owner. The dog will learn to pick things up, retrieve items and open doors. More than that, service dogs can be trained to pay for a purchase at counters and turn lights on and off.

"They're also acquainted with wheelchairs, walkers and canes so they're not afraid of them," Sanders said. For those with mobility problems, the dogs are taught to brace in case their person loses their balance or just needs help standing. They're also taught to walk in a harness in order to give their person balance when walking.

After completing this rigorous process, the dog is then matched up personality-wise to any applicant in waiting. But the series of tests does not stop there.  The applicant themselves also must enter a battery of interviews, paperwork and even their own three-­week training period. It is here that the person will meet the dog and the two will work together to become a team in every sense of the word. Eagles Wing members are with the dog and applicant every step of the process for the duration of testing.

Eventually, the two will be taken out into public to see what their compati­bility is like in the outside environment, in real-life situations such as restau­rants.

Before doing so, the dog and appli­cant are required to take what is called a public-access test before entering the, public on their own. This test includes a number of tasks such as the dog open­ing a door for its person and loading and unloading from a vehicle together. If things go smoothly and the two pass the tests, the applicant may then take home their service dog.

Eagles Wings members do not drop contact with their graduate dog once it has left their program. "We keep in touch with them with a follow-up routine, Sanders said. "We're in contact every single day for the first week. then once a month, than monthly. We wean them off and make sure everything is going smoothly."

Afterwards, there is a yearly public ­access test that must be renewed.

The group's first success story was with a mixed breed dog named Jasmine who spent two years in the Eagles Wings' program before being placed in September with a local man who is per­manently confined to a wheelchair.

Jasmine was trained not only to pick up and carry things for her person, but also to alert him of people approaching. Currently there are two dogs in train­ing with the program. The service dogs are especially useful to individuals who are mobility impaired, having trouble walking or navigating because of to ill­ness or disease.

"It's been really fun doing this," Brink said. "I don't think I've experienced as much satisfaction as when I turned Jasmine over to her new owner and saw the look on his face."

Eagles Wings Service Dogs may be contacted by calling the SPCA at 322-4646