By Riley Fontana
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Walpole Public Library (WPL) welcomed GOFI Dogs to the children's community room for an afternoon of snuggles, treats and dogs. Members of the GOFI community brought five puppies for patrons to pet and hang out with.
GOFI dogs are trained for varied tasks, but these puppies are in training to be facility dogs for various locations. All of the puppies were still in training and under a year old, so this was a wonderful learning opportunity for children as well as the dogs. Many families flocked to the community room to meet the dogs and teach their children the basics of interacting with dogs they don’t know.
The five dogs in attendance were golden retrievers Graham, Bean, Anya and Taylor as well as black lab golden retriever mix Gracie. Bean is training with Boston University Police to be a resource dog for college students, Gracie is training with Babson College, Graham is training with Curry College and Anya is training to be a service dog.
The dogs rejoiced in the unending attention of library guests. Countless families flooded the room to interact with the puppies. The dogs have gone through training to be relaxed around unfamiliar people which makes them perfect for the library setting. Many young children don’t know how to interact with dogs and the GOFI dogs are calm enough to let them learn. Parents gave their kids instructions on how to let the dogs sniff their hands before petting, and the dog's handlers also helped with the meetings.
The dogs were spread out around the room so people could walk around and meet all of them. Handlers of the dogs were ready and willing to answer any and all questions patrons had about the puppies and their training regimes. Children were very excited to learn new facts and collect stickers and trading cards from some of the dogs.
GOFI dogs are trained dogs for an array of needs but many of them are community service dogs. The puppies that visited Walpole Public Library were barely scraping the surface of what these dogs can offer those in need, and everyone is looking forward to another run-in with the puppies. The GOFI dogs will return to the WPL on Tuesday, August 19 at 11am.
