A cause worth a “paws”

Zorro, a three-month-old black lab, wagged his tail as he walked with his sitter, Laurel Logemann, toward Miami University’s Armstrong Student Center. Logemann would be spending the next few hours preparing him for his future service as a guide dog.

Logemann, a sophomore majoring in elementary education, looks after Zorro part-time as a member of Paws for a Cause, a student organization that allows members to care for service dogs in training. According to their website, their foremost goals include supporting the organization through fundraising, raising awareness for their cause and ensuring the health of the dogs while reinforcing their training.

Logemann trained Zorro with different commands and behaviors that allow him to assist people with disabilities. Logemann started off the morning by practicing commands and guidework, walking with Zorro in small laps and using phrases such as “Sit!” or “Down!” This extended to more complex training such as handling and leg lifts, which helped Zorro get used to occasions like going to the vet.

However, Zorro’s work isn’t done yet.

Logemann said that outside of regular training sessions, one of the most important parts of a service dog’s time with Paws for a Cause is their exposure to public settings. Caregivers take their dogs wherever they can in order to get them familiar with being around larger groups of people, whether it be in a classroom, walking around campus or even in the middle of Armstrong. The organization also has social outings for all members (including the dogs) to attend, having already held more than 20 events during the summer.

Photo by Laurel Logemann | The Miami Student
Zorro trains to get used to multiple kinds of touch and handling, including things touching his head.

“We’re definitely looking forward to our Butterfield Farms socialization, and I think we go to the aquarium first semester,” Paws for a Cause President Emily Stevenson said.

Stevenson, a senior majoring in software engineering, joined the organization during her first year on campus. Initially drawn in by the opportunity to interact with dogs, Stevenson said their mission statement encouraged her to commit.

“I heard that they use dogs to help people from various disability communities, and I was very interested in that cause, and how dogs can be used to help people,” Stevenson said.

After serving as the organization’s treasurer during her sophomore and junior years, Stevenson started her senior year as president of Paws for a Cause.

As Logemann sat with Zorro in Armstrong, a student asked if he was a service animal and if she could pet him. With permission, the student gave Zorro a few pats on the head and went on their way.

Members said raising awareness is a large part of training service dogs, and they take every opportunity to educate people about service animals through open events or even interactions in public.

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Photo by Solomon Bowser | The Miami Student
For Zorro, one of the most important parts of his training is exposure to public settings.

Members like Stevenson and Logemann also emphasize the importance of courtesy and respect when talking about awareness. While they are willing to let other people ask questions about their dogs or even pet them at times, the professional boundaries of service dogs are crossed on occasion.

“There will be people who will just walk up to you and pet your dog and not ask or forget the handler is there,” Logemann said, “and that’s kind of harmful to our training.”

This kind of activity can distract the dogs from their responsibilities, which isn’t something that they can afford to do, especially when their handler’s health could be at risk.

“We don’t always say ‘yes’ when people ask us to pet, and I think that kind of helps because then we can have a conversation with that person,” Stevenson said.

Moreover, Stevenson remarked on the organization’s success with fundraising endeavors, having raised enough money to buy a park for their service dogs. According to an article by The Miami Student, Paws for a Cause had raised more than $60,000 in 2021 to fund the park. The Paws for a Cause Service Dog Park was completed in 2023 and can be found by Cook Field. The park offers a dedicated space for service dogs and service dogs-in-training to play. It is also open to anyone who handles them, including students, Oxford citizens and even visitors.

For members like Lauren Devney, the relationships built between members breathes life into Paws for a Cause. The love they share for these dogs and their passion for their futures drives the progress that they make.

“It’s ‘Doing whatev-fur it takes,’ which is really true across campus about the community that we build to support each other with these dogs because you’re in college, you have exams, you have all this stuff going on, and then while also taking care of a living, breathing creature,” Devney said.

Devney, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, joined Paws for a Cause her first year at Miami. She’s taken care of service dogs in training both as a sitter and full-time as well as served as the organization’s awareness chair during her sophomore and junior years. She even adopted Collins, a dog who had flunked out of the program.

“I really found a community of people who both support me, my dogs that I’ve raised, and I met some lifelong friends, like my current roommate,” Devney said.

bowsers2@miamioh.edu