Diego

My name is DIEGO and I am the Psychiatric Facility Dog at Montgomery Counseling Group. I work with Michelle Wilcox as a therapeutic team. Sometimes folks just want to talk to me though and that is okay because Michelle listens really well! I am a Golden Labrador and I am almost three years old. I come from an organization called paws4people, whose mission is to educate and empower people to utilize Assistance Dogs to transform lives. Please visit their organization to learn more:  www.paws4people.org. I have 7 siblings that have all become Service Dogs and I am excited that I got to become a Facility Dog with Michelle because that means I get to help many individuals, from ages 3 to 103!

Becoming an Assistance Dog requires lots of training which means I got to start when I was only 3 days old. I got to start seeing the world when I was only 6 weeks old. It was important for me to learn all those smells, sounds, textures, and people. My most exciting adventure was when I was only 5 months old and I got to travel to a program in West Virginia where I learned over 100 commands. Now it is time for me to do real work, make a difference in people’s lives, and show them that it does get better.

I will be here to help provide tactile pressure, help lower anxiety during your session, listen to anything you want to tell me, or just be a paw to hold during tough times. I do want to say that while Michelle and I normally work as a team I do know that folks can be allergic to all my fur, so in that case, I let Michelle go solo. She does a pretty good job without me!

I look forward to meeting new folks and making a difference!