Some West Virginia University students are getting help from mans best friend to make a difference in the Morgantown community.

The”A”litterAbe, Abby, Ashley, April, Alice, Autumn and Annieare golden retrievers helping to teach local teens the importance of the Golden Rule.

The dogs are part of the Golden Rule Assistance Dogs program, the first of its kind in West Virginia, that teaches high-risk youth to train retrievers to become assistance dogs for the physically disabled.

Coordinated through WVU s Office of Service Learning, the WVU -W.K. Kellogg grant enables Rick Yount to run the program entirely from grant funding and donations. The program’s benefits are two-fold. First, people with physical disabilities get the assistance they need and a friend. Second, troubled teens get a second chance at learning the Golden Rule.

The program got under way three years ago. Back then, Yount, a licensed social worker, and his retriever Gabe, a therapy dog, were working in Preston County with children in foster care. After watching a television special featuring Bonnie Bergin, pioneer of the well-known Assistance Dogs Program, Yount decided to travel to California to train with Bergin to become an assistance dogs trainer.

Young was passionate about helping the physically disabled and he wanted to make a difference in West Virginia. When he returned to Morgantown, he started the Golden Rule Assistance Dogs volunteer program.

Four days a week, Yount and a group of volunteers and WVU psychology students take the canines to the Morgantown Alternative Learning Center where high-risk teens train the retrievers. Yount’s hope is that the training experience will teach these teens the value of empathy and teach them that they can achieve success.

“I think it is a social injustice when these kids grow up and don’t know that they can live their lives differently than how they have always lived them,”he said.

In two years of training, assistance dogs are taught over 90 commands, which include pulling wheelchairs, flipping on light switches, opening refrigerator doors, bracing to help people stand and even picking up a dime with their mouth.

Beyond the physical assistance that these dogs provide, there are emotional benefits, too. These retrievers form lifelong bonds of friendship with their owners, often providing a sense of security. Yount’s hope is that some day, he will be able to provide these dogs, who are worth thousands, to the mobility impaired for a $100 application fee.

Yount says the program wouldn’t be possible without the help of devoted volunteers.

Since it began, the number of helpers has grown to include several academic departmentsincluding psychology, social work, occupational therapy, journalism, marketing and graduate counseling.

Psychology majors say they form bonds with the”furry seven”as they assist in training the dogs and they gain practical experience in working with at-risk youth.

If you would like to learn more about the Golden Rule program, Yount and his assistance dogs will be on campus during Diversity Week. Yount will speak at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, in 512 Allen Hall. He will also have an information booth set up on Thursday, Oct. 30, in the Mountainlair. For more about Diversity Week, go to http://www.wvu.edu/~socjust/diversity-week.htm .