Collar Scholars Club Welcomes DU’s First Service Dog in Training

Second-years Tyler Harrington (left) and Claire Hicks are the co-founders of Collar Scholars and co-raisers of future service dog Gershwin.

The University of Denver has a new furry friend on campus. Gershwin, a 6-month-old yellow Labrador retriever, is being trained as a service dog through a new student club, Collar Scholars. 

Club president Claire Hicks and vice president Tyler Harrington are co-raising Gershwin until he’s 18 months old, when he’ll be turned over to Canine Companions, a national nonprofit that provides service dogs to disabled people and facilities like hospitals, schools, and courts free of charge. DU is one of 30 colleges that participate in Canine Companions’ Collegiate Raising Program.

Hicks is a second-year studying biology and Spanish, and Harrington is a second-year studying kinesiology. Hicks first met 8-week-old Gershwin in June, and he stayed at her home in Buffalo, Wyoming, until school started. Gershwin currently lives with Hicks and Harrington, who are roommates in Nelson Hall.

As puppy raisers, Hicks and Harrington’s daily routine involves taking Gershwin on walks, playing with him, and conducting two hours of dedicated training. This includes teaching him about 30 commands by the time he leaves their care, Hicks says.

The bulk of the training involves socialization and getting him used to the world. They teach him to stay calm in different environments but avoid taking him to very loud, crowded places so he doesn’t get overwhelmed. Gershwin can attend classes with them, unless the classes are labs or include an exam—for safety reasons and to avoid disrupting the class, Hicks says. 

DU’s club is one of five Collar Scholars clubs in Colorado. Hicks, Harrington, and a group of their friends created the club last April after Hicks was inspired by an Instagram post from Collar Scholars at Colorado State University. 

Hicks says she loves Canine Companions’ mission of creating more independence for people. The nonprofit has a two-year-long waiting list due to a shortage of puppy raisers, but she’s happy to take the time and effort to train a dog that could really make a difference in someone else’s life. 

“Gershwin is definitely one of the best things in my life right now, but I also know that someday he's going to go on to either help someone get their independence back or help breed more puppies for the same mission,” she says. 

For Harrington, the mission resonates personally since he has a cousin who is paralyzed from the waist down as the result of a severe motorcycle crash. 

“Providing this service is a way to give back to people who have had unfortunate things happen,” Harrington says. “The difference that [the dogs] can make is astounding.”

A community of support

The biggest challenge for the two students so far has been learning how to manage a new club, but they’ve gotten a lot of support from Canine Companions and other Collar Scholars clubs. Hicks says she contacts other club presidents often to ask their advice. 

Canine Companions provides resources to the club, including a wide range of training videos, and pays for the vet bills and dog food through the Collar Scholars Fund. The club also has received donations from the wider Denver community, which help pay for additional supplies like dog crates, toys, bedding, nail clippers, and more, Hicks says.

Kim Strickland, a Canine Companions program assistant who helps support Collar Scholars at DU, is very impressed with Hicks and Harrington’s maturity in taking on the responsibility of raising a puppy while in college.

“I love how driven they are—and how intentional and thoughtful,” Strickland says. “They make a lot of thoughtful decisions about their puppy's training and exposure.” 

So far this academic year, about 150 students have joined the club on Crimson Connect, with 20-25 people attending the meetings regularly, Harrington says. Two other club members are going to be co-raisers of a second puppy who’s arriving over winter break.

Eleven students have gone through puppy sitter training and take turns spending time with Gershwin for a few hours two or three times a week. The training is regulated by Canine Companions and includes three two-hour night classes and the completion of a written and practical exam to demonstrate knowledge of basic safety and cues. 

“I really value our puppy sitters,” Harrington says. “We couldn’t have done this without them.”

Hicks says she loves getting to talk with other DU students about what service dogs can do—and seeing some students realize they could benefit from a service dog themselves. 

“It’s incredibly fulfilling,” Hicks says. “When I wake up in the morning, Gershwin makes me want to get up and get out of bed.”