Pudge, a service dog, waits as Reece Trahan and special eduction teacher Kori Ring work in the background.

A year ago, the Star Tribune introduced readers to Reece Trahan, a boy who had just been matched with his autism service dog, Pudge. Now the pair have reached a new milestone.

At Rochester's Jefferson Elementary School last Tuesday morning, first-graders loitered at their lockers, greeting friends and slipping off parkas and boots. Reece Trahan tiptoed along the second-floor hallway, keeping a loose grasp on the harness of the big black dog who loped at his left side. Reece's fingers played on the harness as they walked, gripping, releasing, gripping, releasing, a quiet gesture in the din of the day's start.

Reece has severe autism. Pudge is a specially trained service dog who came from a school near Toronto last March to be Reece's guide and protector. In the year since, the nearly 3-year-old Labrador has become Reece's first friend, an obvious source of comfort and the first chink in the wall that autism has created between Reece and the people who love him.

It was a year of firsts: sleeping through the night, more relaxed family outings and evenings at home, a vacation for Reece's parents, Brad and Joanie.

But this day had been set aside for a first they'd anticipated since before the dog's arrival: Pudge was going to school.



Read More:
Pudge goes to school

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Service Dogs - General Information