FITCHBURG — Tucker, a yellow Labrador, was sprawled out at the feet of his new partner, Nissa Thornton, as she spoke during NEADS World Class Service Dogs’ graduation ceremony Sunday.  

“He is well known for his kisses, his soulful eyes. Everybody says he doesn’t have dog eyes, he has human eyes,” Thornton said of Tucker. Tucker is Thornton’s fulltime assistance dog at the Massachusetts Department of Corrections Employee Assistance Service Unit in Shirley, where he serves as a morale boost, greeting officers during shift changes and touring the facilities. 

“He does everything from touring the facilities, walking around, just kind of brightening the mood of an otherwise tough environment,” said Thornton. 

Tucker and Thornton were one of 17 service dog teams to graduate from NEADS’ fall class of 2021, 12 were in attendance at the graduation. NEADS is a nonprofit organization that trains service dogs for those with disabilities. 

The organization’s graduation ceremonies commemorate the newly formed partnership between a NEADS client and their service dog. It takes a total of 18-24 months for most of the Labrador pups the organization “task trains” to become official service dogs and get paired with clients, who also receive training. 

The fall 2021 graduation ceremony took place in the auditorium of Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School on Sunday, Nov. 7, from 2-4 p.m. NEADS hasn’t held an in-person graduation ceremony since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Among the graduates were service dogs for hearing and dogs for the classroom, including Sophie.

“The gift of the wonderful animal ripples through my wonderful school each and every day,” said Sophie’s partner Kristin Moffat, a Lunenburg resident who is the assistant principal at Sudbury Public Schools.

Veterans also played a key role in the ceremony. Monty Tech’s ROTC/Color Guard members assisted with the ceremony and the set-up, removing chairs from the stage in between speakers. Two service dogs for hearing, Lincoln and Elly, graduated with their veteran partners Fred Ayers and Daniel Cox. Four veterans from the fall 2021 class graduated with their service dogs in total.

NEADS has three programs tailored to specifically to veterans, one program for veterans who are hard of hearing, another for those with disabilities and a third smaller program for those with PTSD. 

“This is a way we can serve veterans who have a particular need and hopefully make a big impact in their life,” said Katie Hanna, the client services specialist for veterans at NEADS, who is a veteran herself.

Toward the end of the graduation ceremony, Darlene Coit, a volunteer with the Quilts of Valor Foundation, took to the stage with a carefully wrapped quilt in a pillow case. The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides quilts to veterans and service members “touched by war” in order to create a sense of comfort and security. 

Coit removed the quilt and placed it around the shoulders of Danielle Lambert, a 13-year member of the Air Force National Guard who has a NEADS service dog Morrissey. She then made a metaphor of the quilt, comparing it to a veteran and ultimately the community as a whole. The outside of the quilt, Coit said, represents the “pretty” facade that Lambert shows the world. The inside of the quilt, “though soft and squishy” is what gives her strength to carry on. 

 “And that’s what I think of our veterans,” said Coit. “What’s inside this quilt is her, what she does not necessarily show you, but its what gives her the strength.”