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Shelter dogs training to become service dogs

Posted at 4:09 PM, Mar 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-28 21:53:51-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- It's not always easy for dogs to get adopted for shelters, but one local group is helping to change that.

Medical Mutts selects dogs to go through service dog training.

They look for specific traits that would make dogs good candidates.

In the end, the dogs have great training and can more easily be adopted.

Dogs like "Trick" from the Southside Animal Shelter. 

He's living at the home of 3-year-old Zacarri Nolan who's a patient at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital.

Zacarri has Osteogenesis Imperfecta or Brittle Bone Syndrome.

She's had 17 fractures and seven different surgeries in her life. There is no cure.

Service dogs can do things like help pick items off the floor or alert someone about a medical emergency.

For kids, they also help them form social relationships with other students at school. 

That's especially important for kids with rare illnesses like Zacarri.

WATCH OUR STORY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

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