Susquehanna Service Dogs opens new training center in East Hanover Township

The Susquehanna Service Dogs, an assistance dogs program, now has a new 13,000-square-foot training center and headquarters to call home.

The Robin C. Reedy Center opened earlier this month at 1078 Gravel Hill Road in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County on the same farm where the organization has been for several years.

The kennel includes 24 dog runs with outdoor access as well as three play yards.

“We’re really focused on meeting people’s needs,” Deb Tack, director of Susquehanna Service Dogs said in a news release. “In the classrooms, the acoustics, lighting, color palette, and more were all selected to create a comfortable environment so partners can focus on learning how to work with their new assistance dog.”

The training center, which is about 25 minutes from Harrisburg, includes indoor and outdoor stairs, a washer and dryer, a residential-style bathroom, large and small automatic door buttons, and a simulated elevator.

“All of these details make it possible for SSD to train assistance dogs more efficiently on site, as well as provide partners and volunteers opportunities to practice skills with assistance dogs, and assistance dogs in training under the guidance of the trainers,” the organization said in the news release.

The organization breeds, raises, trains, and places service dogs and hearing dogs, as well as facility dogs, to assist children and adults with disabilities. The nonprofit matches people and dogs, and follows each team for the working life of the dog and through the dog’s retirement.

The nonprofit was founded in 1993.

Alexander Building Construction Co. was the construction manager for the project. Murray Associates Architects was the architect, and H. Edward Black and Associates was the engineer.

Susquehanna Service Dogs is a program of Keystone Human Services, a human services organization, which is based in Susquehanna Township. The organization was founded in 1972, and now has more than 3,000 employees working in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as in India and Moldova.

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