KET Segment to Feature UK’s Wildcat Service Dogs Program

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 10, 2016) — This weekend’s edition of Kentucky Educational Television’s (KET) "Kentucky Life" will be sure to catch your attention as one segment of the show focuses on the University of Kentucky’s Wildcat Service Dogs (WSD) program.

WSD is a student-run organization that works to provide basic training and socialization of puppies with the hope that they will be able to become  certified service dogs through Assistance Dogs for Achieving Independence (ADAI), an organization based in Ohio.

"Our motto is, ‘helping students, help dogs, help people,’ and I have never felt something more true. This club not only gives you a special feeling of helping someone else, but you gain a unique set of skills and form great bonds with the dogs and other people that can’t be mirrored anywhere else,” Gabe Mateka, vice president of WSD, said.

Students live with the program’s adorable puppies — which are typically golden retrievers or Labrador retrievers — full time until the dogs are a year old. They take the dogs along with them to classes, jobs and extracurricular activities, all while working to teach them basic obedience commands and assistance behaviors, such as “retrieve.” Once the dogs pass their final certifications, they are partnered with people in need of assistance as a result of mobility disorders or certain health conditions.

You can see the episode on WSD this weekend on KET at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, and at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, as well as on KET2 at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15.  For more information regarding the WSD program, you can visit http://www.wildcatservicedogs.org.

"Kentucky Life" is a KET production, produced by Brandon Wickey. Segment producers for this episode are Valerie Trimble, Gary Pahler and Paul Smith. KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, serving more than 1 million people each week via television, online and mobile.