Video Coverage

August 12, 2025 – Josh Brogadir, WCVB-TV

PRINCETON, Mass. — So let me get this straight: You get to play soccer on a summer day, and when training is over, a dog greets you on the sideline?

“Verna, you ready to work? Speak! Oh, good girl. Nice job. Back, back,” said Cathy Zemaitis, NEADS Chief Development and Programs Officer.

This may not seem like a workday to many, but it’s a workday for the players on the pitch and the service dogs from the NEADS program, a nonprofit in Princeton, Massachusetts, that pairs pups with people who need them most.

“(They help by) hitting the handicapped buttons, flipping the light switches on and off, picking things up if they drop it, and just going through life with them, maneuvering their way,” Zemaitis added.

This partnership is with the New England Revolution.

Guess who doesn’t mind getting dripped on by the sweat of Revs defender Will Sands?

And Will’s happy to make a new friend.

“It’s really nice (having the dogs here). Obviously, we’re very competitive. Tensions can get a little tight. Having the dogs around helps diffuse certain situations. Yeah, and just love having them around,” Sands said.

The Revs are getting ready for their next match, and some of these service dogs are not ready yet either; they, too, are in training.

“These dogs are trained largely in five different prisons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island by incarcerated individuals,” Zemaitis added.

So why are the puppies on the pitch?

In August, the Revs will honor a Hero of the Match and her NEADS assistance dog. Plus, the fans get to name a NEADS puppy.

Originally published by WCVB-TV on August 12, 2025.

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — While May is a big month for high school and college graduations, there was a ceremony of a different type in Bridgewater on Thursday.

Two Labrador retrievers, Bentley and Newman, were among seven dogs in all graduating from the State Fire Marshal’s K9 Training Program.

Bentley and Newman were provided by NEADS World Class Service Dogs to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services to help investigators determine the cause of suspicious fires.

Both dogs completed a 13-week training program.

They were initially trained as Service Dogs to help people who are deaf or have hearing loss, but during their training they demonstrated traits better served to work in law enforcement and public safety.

Kara Milotte is the Manager of NEADS Client Services.

She said the dogs ended up in the right place. “What we’re finding is the dogs with a little more energy, with a little higher drive, have been a wonderful fit for these state police units.”

Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Gregory Spahl said the dogs are trained to enter a fire scene and use their abilities to identify the exact source of a fire. “We could not do our jobs completely without these canines,” he said.

Spahl said that Labrador retrievers once they are paired up with their law enforcement partners can make great fire detection dogs. “They have great noses. And they are very friendly,” he said.

Also graduating in the ceremony Thursday were five other dogs joining law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports. Photo: Emma Friedman/WBZ NewsRadio

Originally published on WBZ News Radio and CBS News Boston on 5/22/25