Zebra Centre welcomes dogs Moose and Zeppelin: ‘These guys were born to do this’

Two precise bully boys person been added to the Zebra Child and Youth Advocacy Centre’s installation canine program.

Moose and Zeppelin joined the squad 2 months agone — each is simply a lab/golden retriever mix.

“They some person been grooming to beryllium installation dogs since birth, and they some precocious turned 2 years old,” said Emmy Stuebing, CEO of the Zebra Centre.

“They’ve conscionable been starting with conscionable and greets, and that’s been going truly well.

Zeppelin came from Edmonton-based Dogs With Wings and Moose was trained with Ontario-based Lions Foundation. They articulation six-year-old achromatic lab, Captain — who has been astatine the Zebra Centre for 4 years.

Their occupation is to supply comfortableness and enactment to kids who travel determination aft experiencing abuse.

“Sometimes erstwhile kiddos travel to the Zebra Center, they don’t truly privation to speech to anybody astir what happened to them, but sometimes they’ll speech to a dog,” Stuebing said.

Not each kid volition privation one, but for many, conscionable having the work canine determination gives them courage.

“They’re non-judgmental and that instant feeling of information that they bring decidedly helps easiness the kids erstwhile they’re here,” Stephanie Franks said, Child and Youth Supports manager astatine the Zebra Centre.

The anticipation is for Moose and Zeppelin to yet spell to tribunal arsenic good — similar Captain — but it’s a occupation that requires a batch of patience connected the dog’s portion and tin deterioration them retired faster.

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“We privation to marque definite that they’re being rotated, but it does instrumentality immoderate time, arsenic we privation to marque definite that they’re capable to bash this for agelong periods of time,” Franks said.

Since the programme launched successful 2013 it’s been called VIP – Very Important Paws.

As the caller pups were welcomed to the herd Thursday, the Zebra Centre besides announced it’s renaming the installation canine programme to The Buddy Dog program.

It’s successful honour of 1 of the centre’s biggest supporters — Buddy Victor — who passed distant successful 2023 astatine 92 years old.

For now, the pups are settling into their caller jobs.

“They person bully consciousness of humour successful a mode that they conscionable are a clump of jokesters, but they cognize erstwhile to beryllium sensitive,” Frank said.

“They’re some looking truly promising everyone’s truthful excited to person these guys,” Stuebing added.