MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- In the quiet minutes before the training session started, seven red-vested golden retrievers, five young adults and two fluffy puppies, worked quietly with their trainers, most of whom sat in wheelchairs. The dogs mostly obeyed the firm commands issued by the trainers, all West Virginia University students.

Then instructor Katie Penco closed the room's sliding door, told the trainers to remove the dogs' service vests and to let them off their leashes. The dogs quivered in anticipation, but remained seated with their trainers. Penco counted, "One, two, three -- release!"

The older dogs threw themselves into a tumble of fur-flying fun in the middle of the room, while Marion and Cali, the two puppies, skirted the main action and nipped at each other on the sidelines. After about 10 minutes of roughhousing, the dogs answered their trainers' calls, trotting back to sit beside them while their trainers slipped on the red vests that signal work time. Most of the student trainers sit in wheelchairs during the sessions to accustom the dogs to the devices.

The dogs are training through Hearts of Gold, a nonprofit program providing service dogs for individuals with mobility impairment and/or post traumatic distress disorder. Hearts of Gold has placed dogs with a disabled Fairmont man, in the women's prison system, in a program for adolescents with substance-abuse issues and in an elementary school with a special-needs instructor and plans to place others with veterans through the VA hospital in Clarksburg.

"Today we're going to work on soft-mouth retrieval," Penco said. "We're teaching them to keep objects in their mouths gently so they don't crush them. If someone drops something like a cell phone, they have to pick it up gingerly."

Penco moved to Judd, a 1-year-old dog, and held a toothbrush between her hands for the dog to grab the handle. "Get it," she said. She cupped her hands around the dog's muzzle and said, "Hold it."

She removed her hands, and Judd opened his mouth and dropped the toothbrush. "No!" barked Penco. They repeated the process, and Judd held the toothbrush in his mouth until Penco said "Give."

"This is long progress. Last semester, he wouldn't open his mouth," she said. "We had to pry it open."

The room echoes with "Get it," "Hold It," "Give" and lots of "Nos" as the students work with their dogs.

When the dogs finish their training, typically in 1 1/2 to two years, they will understand 100 to 150 commands, some of which are tailored to the needs of the person with whom they're placed. Basic commands are "Tug it," to open a door or refrigerator door equipped with a rope pull, "Light," to flip a light switch on and "Switch" to flip it down and turn it off.

The Hearts of Gold/WVU partnership was initiated in part by Dr. Jean Meade, a veterinarian who owns Cheat Lake Animal Hospital. At first, the class was offered to animal and veterinary sciences students. Today, students in other disciplines take the classes. Ultimately, Meade would like the program to include service research activities to provide controlled scientific evidence in support of the benefits of service animals to their owners.

The dogs enrolled in Hearts of Gold are donated or purchased golden retrievers. Retrievers and Labradors are especially well suited to be service animals, because of their physical size and strength, the close bond they establish with people and their temperament.

Trainers have worked with two dogs rescued from the animal shelter, but the results were not as successful as with the golden retrievers.

"One was placed as a therapy dog and the other as a family pet," Meade said. "It takes lots of human and financial resources to train the dogs, so we really need to start with dogs that are most likely to succeed. It's kind of heartbreaking to put in two years training a dog and have to place it as a companion animal."

Because she provides free veterinary care and students train the dogs, Meade hasn't tracked the total costs associated with training one service animal. She's seen estimates from other training groups in the range of $12,000 to $20,000. Hearts of Gold does not charge for the dogs placed through the program.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- In the quiet minutes before the training session started, seven red-vested golden retrievers, five young adults and two fluffy puppies, worked quietly with their trainers, most of whom sat in wheelchairs. The dogs mostly obeyed the firm commands issued by the trainers, all West Virginia University students.

Then instructor Katie Penco closed the room's sliding door, told the trainers to remove the dogs' service vests and to let them off their leashes. The dogs quivered in anticipation, but remained seated with their trainers. Penco counted, "One, two, three -- release!"

The older dogs threw themselves into a tumble of fur-flying fun in the middle of the room, while Marion and Cali, the two puppies, skirted the main action and nipped at each other on the sidelines. After about 10 minutes of roughhousing, the dogs answered their trainers' calls, trotting back to sit beside them while their trainers slipped on the red vests that signal work time. Most of the student trainers sit in wheelchairs during the sessions to accustom the dogs to the devices.

The dogs are training through Hearts of Gold, a nonprofit program providing service dogs for individuals with mobility impairment and/or post traumatic distress disorder. Hearts of Gold has placed dogs with a disabled Fairmont man, in the women's prison system, in a program for adolescents with substance-abuse issues and in an elementary school with a special-needs instructor and plans to place others with veterans through the VA hospital in Clarksburg.

"Today we're going to work on soft-mouth retrieval," Penco said. "We're teaching them to keep objects in their mouths gently so they don't crush them. If someone drops something like a cell phone, they have to pick it up gingerly."

Penco moved to Judd, a 1-year-old dog, and held a toothbrush between her hands for the dog to grab the handle. "Get it," she said. She cupped her hands around the dog's muzzle and said, "Hold it."

She removed her hands, and Judd opened his mouth and dropped the toothbrush. "No!" barked Penco. They repeated the process, and Judd held the toothbrush in his mouth until Penco said "Give."

"This is long progress. Last semester, he wouldn't open his mouth," she said. "We had to pry it open."

The room echoes with "Get it," "Hold It," "Give" and lots of "Nos" as the students work with their dogs.

When the dogs finish their training, typically in 1 1/2 to two years, they will understand 100 to 150 commands, some of which are tailored to the needs of the person with whom they're placed. Basic commands are "Tug it," to open a door or refrigerator door equipped with a rope pull, "Light," to flip a light switch on and "Switch" to flip it down and turn it off.

The Hearts of Gold/WVU partnership was initiated in part by Dr. Jean Meade, a veterinarian who owns Cheat Lake Animal Hospital. At first, the class was offered to animal and veterinary sciences students. Today, students in other disciplines take the classes. Ultimately, Meade would like the program to include service research activities to provide controlled scientific evidence in support of the benefits of service animals to their owners.

The dogs enrolled in Hearts of Gold are donated or purchased golden retrievers. Retrievers and Labradors are especially well suited to be service animals, because of their physical size and strength, the close bond they establish with people and their temperament.

Trainers have worked with two dogs rescued from the animal shelter, but the results were not as successful as with the golden retrievers.

"One was placed as a therapy dog and the other as a family pet," Meade said. "It takes lots of human and financial resources to train the dogs, so we really need to start with dogs that are most likely to succeed. It's kind of heartbreaking to put in two years training a dog and have to place it as a companion animal."

Because she provides free veterinary care and students train the dogs, Meade hasn't tracked the total costs associated with training one service animal. She's seen estimates from other training groups in the range of $12,000 to $20,000. Hearts of Gold does not charge for the dogs placed through the program.

Justin Powers, a senior landscape architecture major from Gilmer County, fosters Gus, a large male who is nearly ready for placement. "He's ready for refinement training," Powers said. Refinement is the final training step before a dog is placed.

Powers is a teaching assistant in Service Dog Training. He took the class last semester. "I've always been around dogs, but I couldn't have them here," Powers said. Most student housing landlords do not allow pets.

Students are encouraged to socialize the animals by walking them on campus where distractions abound, to restaurants, on public transportation and in stores. Curiosity draws most class participants to the program after they see the service dogs on campus. Satisfaction keeps many involved in the program after the semester ends.

"I think it teaches the students a lot of responsibility and gives them a sense of something positive to work for," said Penco, who first took the class because it fit in her schedule.

When a friend who had taken the class recommended it to Kate McGraw, a senior in biology, McGraw thought it might be helpful in training her own dog someday.

"I thought it would be cool to be able to take them everywhere like the service dogs I saw on campus," McGraw said. "It's really worthwhile. She'll be placed with somebody who has some sort of disability."

Sam Dooley, an animal and veterinary science junior from Bridgeport who fosters Judd, said finding an apartment that would accept Judd was a big challenge. Judd attends classes with Dooley, accompanies him to the mall, businesses and restaurants and rides with on the bus and on WVU's el-type Personal Rapid Transit system.

"The only place that ever gave me any trouble was the PRT. Someone came over the intercom and asked me to pick up the phone," Dooley said. "I told him he was a golden retriever service dog and he said to go ahead and ride."

A bus driver stopped him from boarding, but allowed him and Judd on the bus when he saw the red service-dog vest.

The golden dogs draw attention everywhere they go, despite their intended role to be in the background. "People run up to us all the time. They're supposed to ask first and then I tell him it's OK, but they don't usually do that," Dooley said. "I did the same thing before I was in the program."

The Hearts of Gold program is the first step in a community program called Human Animal Bond founded by Meade and her husband, Al Munson. Meade, who is a family medicine resident at WVU's medical school, became interested in animal-assisted therapy as a retirement project.

Meade and Munson plan to establish an animal-assisted community for the elderly, disabled individuals and adolescents who were previously in foster care. They purchased 40 acres outside of Morgantown and hope to build a facility in which fostered adolescents who want to attend college could live and be mentored by older people who have time to devote to them.

"This is just a start," Meade said. "It's part of a larger goal."

For more information about Hearts of Gold and Human Animal Bond, or to make a donation, visit www.humananimalbond.org.

Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.