Eye On Oshkosh - Journey Together Service Dog fundraisers and Winnebago County K9s

On the most recent episode of Eye on Oshkosh, host Cheryl Hentz welcomes Robin Milner, a volunteer with Journey Together Service Dog, who shares information about some upcoming fundraisers the group is holding.

A major one is on Saturday, Aug. 17 at Barley & Hops in Oshkosh from 11 am to 3 pm. People will have a chance to meet some of the service dogs they’re training to eventually be given free of charge to Wisconsin residents diagnosed with PTSD or who are victims of crime and have anxiety issues. There will also be some items raffled off including a very special item – a Packers football, signed by the players and coaches from the past NFL season. As an added treat, WBAY Channel 2 evening news anchor, Cami Rapson, will act as a celebrity bartender from 11 am to 1 pm, serving up Bloody Marys and Mimosas to people in attendance.

Hentz spends the balance of the hour chatting with Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz and K9 handler, Deputy Devin Wilson and his K9 partner, Gracie, who is in training to be a therapy dog for the department. Only 11 months old at the time of this taping, Gracie is on schedule to finish her training and become certified by sometime this fall. Currently, she spends a lot of her time comforting employees of the sheriff’s department and inmates at the jail, helping to keep them calm and relaxed in otherwise very stressful situations. Once certified, Gracie and Deputy Wilson will go on calls in the community where citizens are having an emotional crisis of some kind or to help diffuse other tense situations in the field.

Much of this discussion’s focus was on the Sheriff department’s K9 program – how many dogs they have, the approximate cost for obtaining and training a dog, what jobs the dogs are assigned, and the STAR program. This program – the county’s 16-month-old sobriety-assisted treatment program – is offered to any inmate who is serious about becoming clean and sober. K9 Gracie is a unique part of the STAR program.

 

You can watch this fascinating and information-filled show here or by going to the following link: https://youtu.be/rPuJn6Dpvdk.