By James Velasquez

It takes about two years and 2,000 hours of training to prepare a dog for service work and some of that time is spent roaming the halls of the state Capitol building in Santa Fe.

Assistance Dogs of the West has spent more than three decades training dogs to support people with physical and psychiatric disabilities across New Mexico. The organization is accredited through Assistance Dogs International, which requires strict training standards before dogs can be certified. 

ADW trainer Mara Perrigo often bring dogs in training to the Capitol to help them get comfortable with working in environments that may have noisy protesters, police officers in flashy uniforms and even mariachi musicians.

“We train assistance dogs for one-on-one clients, [for] either mobility or psychiatric support,” ADW trainer Mara Perrigo said. “We also train facility dogs so they can be peer support …for fire stations, police offices, DA’s offices …wherever they’re needed.”

Those facility dogs especially benefit from visiting the Roundhouse where they get to walk through metal detectors, walk up and down stairs and ride in the elevator.

Perigo says confusion around service animals has increased as untrained dogs are labeled as service dogs. Because the industry is largely unregulated, anyone can claim their dog is a service dog, even without professional training.