Photos, Video and Editing by Cody Duty

Highly qualified and seriously dedicated to his job, there’s a new resident on campus this year. He goes by Cash, and he’s most often seen hard at work up and down the Hill.

Until he gets his paws on his favorite squeaky toy.

Cash is one of two dogs living in the dorms this year. Both are service dogs trained to provide assistance to people with disabilities.

This is the first year service dogs have lived on campus, said Kit Tolbert, director of housing operations.

He is to be treated as a resident and is not restricted from any area of our residence hall system, said Jennifer Ballard, the McLean Hall director.

“He is obviously very intelligent, and we look forward to learning from this experience,” Ballard said.

Cash, a 4-year-old black labrador, lives in McLean with Owensboro freshman Jennifer Franey.

Franey has spinal muscular atrophy type 3, which she describes as when “the muscles grow to a certain point and then stop growing.”

She’s a business major and chose to come to Western partly because the campus was easy to get around.

Cash has lived with Franey for two years and is trained to provide several forms of assistance, from pushing automatic door buttons to picking things up off the floor.

“He can also turn light switches on and off,” Franey said. “But I don’t have him do that often because he scratches the walls.”

One of Cash’s most useful abilities is to bring Franey things around her room.

“If I need my flip-flops, he can bring them to me, or if I’m doing homework and I drop a pen, Cash can get it,” she said.

Though most of Cash’s help for Franey is physical, he also provides social support.

“A lot of people are afraid to approach people in wheelchairs, so sometimes having a dog makes them feel more comfortable to come over,” Franey said.

Cash is a working dog, but he also knows how to have fun.

“He plays catch, and he can play dead,” Franey said. “He loves to chew on bones and play with his stuffed frog. The frog has a squeaker in it, so sometimes he wakes everyone up at night playing with it.”

Franey got Cash in Columbus, Ohio from Canine Companions for Independence. The application process took two years.

“There was a phone interview, a personal interview and then a one-year waiting list because of the number of people requesting a service dog,” she said.

Once Franey’s request was accepted, she and her mother attended a two-week training program.

“You have to learn how to handle him because you don’t just speak a command,” Franey said. “You have to say it with authority.”

She said learning to live with Cash was not all easy.

“This is kind of embarrassing,” she said with a laugh. “When I first got him I wasn’t used to taking him out to use the bathroom yet. One day we were in Target and he pooped right in the middle of the store.”

Before training to live with Franey, Cash went through two years of training on his own. Born in California, Cash was bred to be a service dog.

When ordered to sit down, Cash does so next to his partner and waits with complete concentration on his task, despite activity and distractions from passersby.

Cash also wears a vest that reminds people not to pet him.

“You should always ask before you pet a service dog,” Franey said, “because he is working.”

This work ethic and devotion of service dogs is what makes students’ lives more comfortable.

Jennifer Franey sits in the hallway at TCCW with her dog Cash, as she waits for  class to start on Monday, August 30th. Franey has a muscular disorder that limits her to a wheel chair. Cash makes Franey’s daily tasks such as opening doors and picking up things from the floor easier.  CODY DUTY/HERALD