Photo courtesy of Leah Leifer

Junior Leah Leifer sits in her house with Hunter, the first service dog she trained. Leifer is passionate about the respect service dogs deserve. “Don’t pet a dog you just see in a store. If it’s marked as a service dog, don’t ask to pet it,” Leifer said.

A lively wag of a tail, a slobbery smile and a cuddly greeting as an owner, opens the door: all things typical of our fluffy friends that could make anyone smile. However, for junior Leah Leifer, dogs are more than just a “man’s best friend.” To her, they’re what she’s devoted her life to accomplishing.

For the past five years, Leifer has been learning how to train service dogs. Leifer trained her first dog, Hunter, as a service dog for her generalized anxiety disorder.

“[Hunter] was there as my safety net. He’s always been there to help me. It is a huge relief to have someone that I could count on to be there. He’s the one thing that’s [been] very consistent,” Leifer said.

The Americans with Disabilities Act allows people to train their service dogs, as Leifer did with Hunter when he was two years old. After starting Hunter with basic training like sitting and lying down, Leifer moved to training more specific to service dogs.

“You can’t expect [dogs] to be perfect all the time. Hunter had bad days sometimes, but other days he was perfect,” Leifer said. “When I taught him to spin, it took me six weeks. When [he] finally did it, I was so proud of myself. I was really proud of him.”

Hunter is currently nine and retired, but Leifer still recalls when Hunter finished training. Hunter now lives with Leifer’s grandparents, who she visits every weekend.

“[Training Hunter took] two years of dedication. He’d been in the vest that said ‘in training’ [so long that] it was falling apart and breaking. Then I got the new one [that said ‘service dog’], and everything changed. I was so happy. I put so much effort and love into [his training],” Leifer said. “He’s next to me all the time; it’s like I have two shadows. He listens to every word I say. It’s really sweet to see, but it’s [also] heartbreaking when I have to go home from my grandma’s house, and he has to stay.”

While Hunter has always had a special place in her heart, Leifer has also trained other dogs. Leifer has also helped train future therapy dog Toby, and she shadowed a professional with the company Duo Dogs.

“[Professionals] have their way of training and [how] they want you to train. It’s helpful because you get to learn different techniques. I like shadowing, [but] I’m very independent and like to train by myself. I [still] take a lot of inspiration from the people that I shadow,” Leifer said.

Although COVID-19 quarantine stopped Leifer from continuing with Toby’s training, Toby will get his touch therapy training soon. After finishing training, he will be able to visit places like hospitals, nursing homes, special education places and more.

“I trained Toby to help others, sit with people and just bring general joy. [He will] bring happiness to other people when it’s not easy to find,” Leifer said. “I hope that at some point [my dog training] helps one person. If it helps one person, the effort and money that I’ve put in will be worth it, because it’s going to make somebody else happy.”

Leifer is currently on a break from dog training, but continues to want to work with dogs in the future. She plans to enlist in the military to pay for college, and hopes to be able to train bomb-sniffing dogs. In order to do this, Leifer will take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test to determine if training military dogs would suit her.

“Seeing a dog that I trained is a reflection of my work as a person and what I’m able to accomplish, so being able to see [a military dog] I trained go on to do things that are impactful in the world would make me feel good,” Leifer said.