Articles/Featured Stories Archives Page 3 of 4 - NEADS World Class Service Dogs

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: NEADS dog who aids Marathon bombing survivor gets top ASPCA award

October 23, 2017

by Elaine Thompson, Worcester Telegram & Gazette: A service dog trained by Princeton-based NEADS is the recipient of the ASPCA 2017 Dog of the Year award. The dog, Rescue, provides essential support to Jessica Kensky, who became a double amputee as a result of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Rescue’s assistance for Ms. Kensky includes opening doors, fetching objects, calling for emergency help and many other tasks. At the same time, Rescue also provides Ms. Kensky and her husband, Patrick Downes, with invaluable emotional support and comfort that has helped transform their lives after the tragedy.

ASPCA: NEADS Service Dog Rescue is Recipient of the ASPCA® 2017 Dog of the Year Award

October 20, 2017

ASPCA: Rescue, a Service Dog lending support to a Boston Marathon bombing survivor, joins a brave fifth grader standing up for animals; and a nonprofit rescue group working to assist working military and police K9s as recipients of the ASPCA® 2017 Humane Awards.

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Pew Charitable Trusts: Tightening the Leash on Fake Service Dogs

October 16, 2017

Michael Ollove, The Pew Charitable Trusts: Incidents like one that occurred in Reading, MA have spurred 19 states to enact laws cracking down on people who try to pass off their pets as service animals. The push has been gathering steam in recent years: Virginia implemented its new law in 2016, and Colorado followed suit this year. Massachusetts is now considering a similar proposal. Full Story

BU Daily Free Press: Proposed state bill cracks down on fake service dogs

September 17, 2017

Shannon Larson, The Daily Free Press, Boston University: It’s typing a quick Google search, filling out a form for false credentials at a small fee and purchasing a “service dog” vest on Amazon, and a household pet is afforded the rights of public access mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Soon, however, this manipulation of federal law could be banned by the state government, with a bill calling for the misrepresentation of a pet dog as a service animal to be a civil offense. Full Story

CBS Boston: Bill Would Penalize People For ‘Fake’ Service Dogs

September 14, 2017

Doug Cope, CBS Boston: Advocates for service dogs for the disabled were at the State House Tuesday, lobbying for a bill that would penalize those who say their animals are service dogs when they're not. KateLynne Steinke of Falmouth and her dog Jones were among those in favor of what's been called the fake service dog bill. Full Story

Parenting Special Needs Magazine: Considering a Service Dog? Meet My Monty

May 17, 2017

Tracey L. Stoll, M.ED., B.C.S.E., A.C.A.S, Parenting Special Needs Magazine: My Monty is a Social Therapy Assistance Dog, specializing in trained social behavior and emotional support. (Please turn to pages 22-28)

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The Boston Globe: The story of Rescue and Jessica, a dog, a woman, and rebirth

October 27, 2016

Cristela Guerra, The Boston Globe: It brings Jessica Kensky joy to watch her dog run.

At the park, Rescue the black Labrador chases balls down and leaps with athletic abandon.

He came into Kensky 's life six months after the Boston Marathon bombing. Full Story

Worcester Telegram: CEO One on One: Gerry DeRoche

April 26, 2016

Chief Executive Officer, Gerry DeRoche, has been leading NEADS since 2010, when he made the decision to leave a 33-year career in banking for the nonprofit world. The University of Connecticut graduate resides in Concord with his family, which includes two golden retrievers. Full Story

Providence Journal: Handling with care: By training service dogs, ACI inmates help others

February 24, 2015

John Hill, Providence Journal: On Tuesday morning, two dozen inmates filed into the cafeteria at the John J. Moran Medium Security Prison. There were 13 dogs in the room with them.

But the dogs weren’t there to guard the inmates; the inmates were there because they train the dogs.

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The Boston Globe: Princeton nonprofit sells stuffed marathon service dogs

January 29, 2015

Sacha Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe: In need of a ‘Rescue’? Nonprofits are always on the hunt for new revenue, and some of them dabble in retail to bring in extra money.

Think museum gift shops or online stores selling coffee mugs and note cards. Now NEADS, a Princeton, Mass., nonprofit that trains service dogs, wants to bolster its fledgling retail operation — and, if history repeats itself, the item it’s selling won’t stay in stock for long.

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The Boston Globe: Her decision, their life

January 25, 2015

Eric Moskowitz, The Boston Globe: They were full with newlywed love that brilliant Marathon Monday, fused in joy and then in disaster. Raked by the blast, Patrick and Jess would both lose their left legs. But Jess, harder hit, has held for two years now against the loss of her right. Everything seemed bound up in that choice.

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WCVB-TV: Service dogs Jake, Rossi Boy named after fallen firefighters

July 23, 2014

Two service dogs-in-training have been named after two Boston firefighters who lost their lives in a Back Bay fire earlier this year.

NEADS, a nonprofit organization based in Princeton, Mass., will hold a special event Thursday at the Engine 33, Ladder 15 Firehouse in Boston to honor Lt. Edward Walsh and firefighter Michael Kennedy, who died in March.

Walsh's widow, Kristen Walsh, and Kennedy's mother, Kathy Crosby-Bell, will have the opportunity to meet the two dogs that they have each been named in honor of the fallen men.

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NPR: Service Dog Guides Marathon Bombing Victims Through A Grim Year

April 20, 2014

Sacha Pfeiffer, NPR -- All Things Considered: At Monday's Boston Marathon, many runners will be on the course to honor the 16 people who lost limbs in last year's bombing. One married couple was among them: Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes. Among many dark stories of that day, theirs is among the darkest. They were newlyweds of just seven months when each had their left leg blown off. Their injuries were so severe that they were some of the last victims to leave the hospital. But we want to tell you an encouraging part of their story. It involves an 80-pound black Labrador retriever named Rescue who is specially trained as a Service Dog by NEADS. Full Story

MSNBC: How Boston marathon bombing survivors celebrated Valentine’s Day

February 17, 2014

Claire Kim, MSNBC: Two survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings celebrated Valentine’s Day in a very special way at Copley Place, near the site of the attack last April. Jessica Kensky enlisted the help of an organization called NEADS to plan a surprise for her husband Patrick Downes. The couple stood near the finish line when the bombs went off during the marathon and were seriously injured.

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The Boston Globe: Nonprofit reaches out to bombing victims with an offer of service dogs

November 2, 2013

Sharron Kahn Luttrell, The Boston Globe: Since the Boston Marathon bombings, Jessica Kensky and her husband, Patrick Downes, have been grappling with the enormity of all they have lost. The attack cost each a leg, casting the young couple into a nightmarish world of trauma and recovery and shattering their plan to move to the West Coast, where Downes had accepted a pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology. But late last month, the flow of loss was offset a bit when the couple gained something: a young, black Labrador retriever named Rescue.

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