MONTGOMERY — Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday welcomed a special guest to the Alabama Governor’s Mansion. Service Dog Ivey is a highly trained, 12-week-old Labrador Retriever that could serve as either a mobility assistance dog or a seizure alert dog.

“The work Service Dogs Alabama is doing to support our state’s children, adults and veterans with disabilities is truly changing lives,” said Governor Ivey. “Working dogs of this caliber are both hard to come by and very expensive, but the impact they have on their recipients is immeasurable. I’m incredibly proud to have this organization here in Alabama and am honored to have a life-changing dog share my name.”

Service Dogs Alabama provides medical and psychiatric assistance dogs to children, adults and veterans with disabilities. The organization also provides facility dogs trained in intervention and behavior disruption to schools, courtrooms and state departments where stress is prevalent.

“Our mission, although not lacking obstacles, is quite simple: to maintain the highest standards of training in order to produce the highest caliber service dogs for our recipients across Alabama,” said Service Dogs Alabama Executive Director Jeff Parker. “At just 12-weeks-old, Ivey possesses the ideal traits of a highly performing service dog, and I have no doubt she will change her recipient’s life for the better.”

Service Dogs Alabama has placed more than 130 service dogs throughout the state since its inception. The organization has at least 50 dogs in training at various stages at all times to ensure the wait time for a service dog is less than 18 months for a fully trained dog.

The full photo album can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governorkayivey/albums/72177720302122394

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