This veritably good boy brought himself a parchment.
A pious upstate service canine named Griffin was with his proprietor every step of the way as she worked towards her master’s in occupational remedy — and slipped a pooch cap and gown to admit his own memorial degree at her scale form over the weekend.
“ I pushed for him to graduate from Day One, ” Griffin’s proprietor, Brittany Hawley, said Monday. “ He did everything I did. ”
Hawley, 25, uses a wheelchair and has habitual pain, and the golden retriever helps her with opening doors, turning on lights and costing particulars she indicates with a ray pointer. Most importantly, the doggy provides solace amid Hawley’s grim pain, which causes depression and anxiety.
Griffin accompanied Hawley to classes at Clarkson University in Potsdam — as well as to her externship in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where she helped dogfaces with disabilities.
“ My cases would say, ‘ My therapist moment is Brittany and Griffin,' ” Hawley said.
On Saturday, the board of trustees at Clarkson recognized the 4- time-old doggy with an memorial degree, saying he demonstrated “ extraordinary trouble, loyal commitment and active fidelity to the well- being and pupil success ” of Hawley.
The brace met through a program called paws4prison, in which convicts at West Virginia jails train backing tykes .
“ The convicts allow numerous tykes to come up to you and let the canine choose you, ” Hawley said. “ Some tykes were spooked of the wheelchair. Griffin jumped right into my stage and licked me across the face. ”
When Hawley applies for jobs, she says, Griffin will remain by her side.
“ I could n’t share in anything without him, ” she said. “ I ’m so used to him being there. ”