Quota NOCO members and prospective members were fortunate to tour the Paragon Service Dog facility in Longmont last week and present the organization with a check.

Paragon Service Dogs is one of the non-profits Quota supports as it aligns with our mission. Paragon’s core focus is on training hearing dogs to support individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing by alerting their human to critical sounds. Our tour guide, Bree, explained that puppies live in a “puppy raiser” home or with a specially trained inmate at Wyoming’s medium security prison in Torrington until the dogs are about 12-18 months old. Puppies then begin their formal training at the Longmont facility. Before clients are matched with a dog, they complete a comprehensive program to ensure they are equipped as dog handlers. Once the dog and human are a match, they undergo team training. Teams will then receive lifetime support from Paragon.

We were able to meet several dogs in training at Paragon and one of their extremely friendly resident cats. We all fell in love!

Bree explained Paragon is always looking for individuals to raise puppies as well as people to take the dogs in training into their home for the weekend. Volunteers are also used to help the dogs at the facility.

A great day, followed by lunch at the Big Bear Diner in Johnstown.

For additional information on the Paragon Service Dogs organization check out their website at: https://paragonservicedogs.org/