Coopers Farewell

                   On January 7, Carlena Granados had to say goodbye to her service dog, everyone at school was melancholy about it. No one knew that this goodbye would be so fast, we all thought that Cooper was going to graduate with the senior class.“ I needed to get a job, and I would not be able to give him the time that he needs, and deserves,” says Granados.  Granados said she will not be able to take care of Cooper like she had planned to because she had to find a job, and would not have the time that Cooper needed to be trained. Granados had to take Cooper to a new dog trainer.

" I was very sad because I wouldn’t be with him, but it was sadder to know that he wouldn’t be able to be with his ‘mom’,” said Granados.       

“I Carlena was training Cooper for five months, for her senior project she had to train Cooper to be a service dog for an autism child. Granados said “I thought him a lot of things like sit, lay, wait, command when to eat, potty on command and other commands”. 

“Cooper brought happiness, and something different at our school,” says Iris Parra.

Our students thought that Cooper brought new experiences to them, showed them how people like Carlena make a big difference to our community, and how a simple dog can change someone’s life.

“I learned that it takes patience to train a dog and get negative comments,” says Parra.

When our students saw Carlena with Cooper, they immediately want to start helping in some way, “I happily helped her a few time, but she did most of the job,” says Parra. In the other hand some people were not too happy with having Cooper; they thought he was a distraction to our school.

“I hugged him goodbye,” says Parra.

Just by looking at Cooper you would have a bright smile on your face, everyone that saw him grow, got to interact with him will definitely miss our school dog.

“I learned how to train a service dog, and above all I learned how to leave a love go,” said Granados.