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Allergy Service Dog – Hero!

I came upon this story from Snack Safely and was amazed at the services

provided by a service dog, trained in allergy detection and safety. This

trained dog can literally sniff-out allergens and an epipen in the vicinity

of his owner with food allergies. What a hero is this dog who attended

university with the owner, including lectures!

By Dave Bloom -2020/06/17

How many dogs do you know have attended college and received an award?

Such is the story of Brutus, the 14-year-old family mutt adopted from a

California shelter and trained in his later years as a service dog for his

owner, Jasmine Steinwand.

Steinwand was having a difficult time managing her food allergies during

her senior year at Centenary University in Hackettstown, NJ. She pressed

Brutus into service to help her complete her studies.

Said Steinwand:

He was trained to be receptive to any sort of anaphylactic shock, and

he can retrieve my EpiPen. He came to school with me every day and

during the lectures, he would just sit on the floor and fall asleep.

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Professor Krassi Lazarova, chairwoman of the university’s science

department, hosted the duo in one of her physics classes.

Said Prof Lazarova:

He senses Jasmine’s needs.

The more amazing thing that I didn’t anticipate was the calming effect he

had on all of the other students. Whenever we would take tests or

quizzes, he would start walking around the room and checking on

people, and whoever seemed to be the most stressed would be the one

he would sit next to.

It didn’t start out that way. It started that Brutus had to be with Jasmine

at all times. But then all of a sudden, Brutus had to be with every student

at all times.

“He ended up becoming an iconic part of the campus,” Steinwand said.

“People knew his name, even if they didn’t know me.”Click to visit sponsor 

At the conclusion of classes, the professor handed out 14 achievement

awards during an online ceremony. Steinwand received a Senior Merit

award and Brutus received a “Special Science Helper” award.

“It was a surprise to me. I was lucky enough to win an  award myself, and

then he won an award,” Steinwand said. “It was pretty heartwarming.”

“He is an incredible animal and we were so lucky to have him,” Prof

Lazarova said.

Steinwand, who received a degree in biology with a concentration of pre-

veterinary studies and a minor in chemistry, will continue her studies at

NYU where she has been accepted into an accelerated RN program.

As Steinwand now has better control of her allergies, the plan is for Brutus

to stay home to enjoy a well-deserved rest.Source: Service dog Brutus

helped his human graduate college. Now he has a science award — Daily Record