Dino was born on November 1, 2008. Dino’s mom is named Dolly, and his dad is named Runner. Dino has a puppy brother and a puppy sister. Dino’s puppy brother, Biscuit, works at a middle school near Chicago, Illinois. Dino’s puppy sister, Daisy, works at an elementary school in Beech Grove, Indiana. All of the dogs in Dino’s litter were named after other famous animals. As a puppy, he and his siblings trained with an organization called ICAN. ICAN stands for Indiana Canine Assistance Network. You can learn more about ICAN on the next page.
Dino spent two years in training, and each year he and Mrs. Noens have to pass a test in a public place to prove that Dino can listen to commands and behave appropriately in public around strangers. Originally Dino was in training to be a service dog for a one-on-one position, such as working as a service dog for a physically impaired person. Unfortunately, even his amazing trainers could not keep Dino from getting distracted by other dogs; therefore, he could not become a one-on-one service dog. We are glad that Dino gets distracted by other pups easily though, or we might not have him at Belzer with us! Instead, Dino became a facility service dog, which is why he is allowed to work with us at Belzer on a daily basis.
When Dino is at Belzer, he is actually working. He loves coming to work every day, and Mrs. Noens has told us that Dino gets very sad when school is on a break; he misses his students! In Dino's spare time, he likes to visit his human brother and sister, run and play in the back yard, and sleep.