Blair Peters is the behind-the- scenes IT guy who makes sure the public has access to the daily decision-making activities of the Kane County Board.
For the coming months, Peters, the County’s technologies coordinator, will be joined by a furry companion who is undergoing training as part of a volunteer, charitable organization whose mission is to provide affordable service dogs to individuals with disabilities.
Gremlin is a four-month-old Poodle/Labrador mix who had been paired with Peters through VIP Service Dog Foundation of Hinckley. The service dogs assist disabled individuals with everyday activities.
“I love dogs and decided to volunteer with the foundation to help give someone part of their independence back,” Peters said.
VIP (Very Important Pooches) Founder and president Donna Akers said volunteers are fully trained on how to teach the service dogs basic obedience skills in addition to more specialized training.
“A service dog learns to perform at least two custom tasks to help an individual mitigate their disability,” Akers said.
Using strategy on how to expand Gremlin’s training, Peters approached Kane County Board members for permission to bring the dog to board committee meetings at the Government Center in Geneva.
“The board room is a large public space with lots of people talking, walking around, and there are lots of distractions like doors closing, ringing cell phones and chairs moving,” Peters said. “The board members were happy to welcome Gremlin and gave their OK to have him work alongside me.”
One of the keys to successfully training a service dog is to get them to a point where they ignore everyone around them, except their handler. The dogs wear a vest that lets the public know they are in a specialized training program.
“Because Gremlin is such a sweet dog, people are constantly coming up to us to pet him,” said Peters. “I have to tell them that Gremlin is working and cannot be distracted.”
For more information about the foundation go to vipservicedogfoundation.com.
—Kane County Public Information Office