CARRBORO - Two people will be partnered with assistance dogs from Carrboro nonprofit Eyes Ears Nose and Paws (EENP) at a public graduation ceremony on Saturday, August 21, at 3:30 p.m. at the Carrboro Century Center.

Following an intensive two-week Client Training Seminar that begins on Monday, August 9, these clients and their new assistance dogs will become the first Assistance Dog Teams trained and placed by an organization in central North Carolina.

EENP was started in 2008 to make assistance dogs more available to local residents, and remains the only assistance dog organization in the Triangle area.

According to executive director Maria Ikenberry, nationally, there is a two- to four-year waiting list to receive a service dog, and it can be nearly impossible for North Carolina residents to get a diabetic assistance dog that has been trained by an organization.

With two dogs ready for placement and four more dogs in training, EENP is beginning to reduce that waiting list with their August 21 Placement and Graduation Ceremony.

The graduation ceremony is designed to celebrate the achievements of the dog teams and their trainers. The dogs are raised and trained by volunteer homes called Puppy Parents. After a year and a half of hard work, Puppy Parents celebrate the achievement of their commitment by presenting their dogs leashes to the new handlers, finalizing the placement of the graduating Assistance Dog Teams.

The graduation keynote speech by Brian Hare, Ph.D, will look at the human-dog relationship over time. Hare is an assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and the director of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, which investigates the unique social cognitive abilities of domestic dogs.

The graduation is free and open to the public. Members of the community are encouraged to attend this celebration.

Graduation is the culmination of a two week Client Training Seminar at the EENP training facility. Clients learn to work with their new assistance dog partners through a series of classroom presentations, hands-on practice, and field trips in the local community.

"Service dogs arent robots," said program director Deb Cunningham. "They work for people because they have a relationship with them. The two-week training is the foundation of a successful Assistance Dog Team because it builds that strong relationship between the client and the dog.

Eyes Ears Nose and Paws (EENP) partners people with dogs to improve lives, by training and placing assistance dogs with individuals with disabilities. Diabetic Assistance Dogs use their noses to detect changes in blood sugar and alert their human diabetic partners before those changes become dangerous.

Service Dogs assist with a variety of tasks for individuals with mobility impairments. These tasks include opening doors, retrieving dropped items, flipping light switches, and helping with balance.