Brenda Torres Helps Those in NEAD

Matthew Willar

News Editor

A puppy named Avalon was trained in Massachusetts to be a service dog to someone with a disability. She worked with an incarcerated individual and a weekend trainer to learn up to 60 commands. Now, she is an assistance dog in the military, whose training was partly completed by Brenda Torres, Assumption University Administrative Assistant in the Office of Student Affairs and Student Success. Torres is a weekend puppy raiser with the National Education for Assistance Dog Services and Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans, also known as NEADS, which is a non-profit organization that trains service dogs. “I’ve become known for this. It’s a part of my life, but one that I’ve just come to accept and love.”

Torres grew up in Maine, where her family raised German shepherds. She attended Atlantic Union College where she received her Associate of Science Degree, and then received her Bachelor of Science Degree at Assumption University, where she now works. At Assumption, Torres doesn’t just help students with scheduling meetings but also supports students with anything they need help with. Steisy Herrera Soto, a first-year student at Assumption who has a work-study with Torres, said, “… she’s really great [and] she’s one of the nicest people I’ve met here on campus.”

After Torres had to put her last dog down, she didn’t want to get a new dog right away. Instead, she decided to use her love for dogs in a way that would give back to the community: volunteering for NEADS. When asked why she joined NEADS, Torres said, “Just my love for dogs, and a desire to give back.”

NEADS is a non-profit organization in Princeton, MA, that has been in the business of training and placing service dogs and hearing dogs since 1976. They work with dogs outside of prisons, and incarcerated inmates train the service dogs during the week. Torres said, “It has only enriched my world.”

Incarcerated individuals train service dogs Monday through Friday in prisons. It is a competitive program, and inmates need to have a good record within the prison system to apply to be a trainer with NEADS. The incarcerated individuals who work with these dogs are individuals with longer sentences because they need someone who can commit to training a dog for up to two years. However, the incarcerated individuals are not in prison for violent crimes.

In her time with NEADS, Torres has trained over 10 dogs, with six successfully graduating. When asked about what drew her to volunteer for NEADS, Torres said, “It’s my greatest joy. What I thought was just gonna be a weekend hobby has become my passion.”

Bailey Sullivan, the Assistant Manager of Raiser Operations for NEADS, said of Torres, “Brenda is amazing. She is one of, I would say, one of our long-time and best volunteers.”

As a weekend puppy raiser, Torres is assigned a service dog for a year, which she takes out of prison on the weekends. She assures that the dogs maintain the obedience work that they are taught during the week in the prison. “When we take them out on the weekends, the puppy raiser’s job is to reinforce the tasks that the dog is learning or already knows, but our major goal is to expose them to everything outside of prison,” Torres said.

The weekend puppy raisers play a huge role in the training of the service dogs. “The weekend raisers do a great job of prepping them for what their working life will be,” said Sullivan.

As a weekend raiser, Torres has been able to bring dogs out in public and expose them to the real world. She has brought them to many different places, including elevators, stores, and restaurants. “She [Brenda] and the weekend raisers who do this really prep the dog for a life to be focused on their clients and not really care about what’s going on around them,” said Sullivan.

Torres has found it very rewarding seeing incarcerated individuals train the service dogs during the week. At Concord Farm’s pre-release program, she has been able to meet the incarcerated individual training the service dog she is taking for the weekend, which she has come to enjoy.

Service dogs have now become a great interest of Torres. Through this interest, she has been able to train service dogs to perform between 50 and 60 tasks and commands. These tasks include pushing elevator buttons and opening doors, and for hearing dogs, alerting their clients to sounds. However, because these dogs need to learn up to 60 commands, not all dogs can do it. As mentioned previously, Torres had six out of the ten dogs she has trained so far graduate, meaning four dogs did not. “Not every dog is cut out to be a service dog,” she said.

There was one dog in particular who made a big impact on Torres’ life: Sully, a service dog that Torres raised during the COVID-19 pandemic. NEADS had to shut down the prisons that they worked with, which meant they had to get all the dogs out, so Torres took in Sully. It was unknown how long Torres would have Sully. “What I thought might be two weeks full-time turned into nine months full-time,” she said.

Torres described Sully by saying, “He was our COVID dog. He definitely kept things lighter at home and he provided us with a little laugh. He took the edge off during COVID.” Torres was also able to bring Sully to Assumption when the University allowed employees to return to campus, and he would go with her to get COVID tests during the week and became known around campus.

Torres has been an influential figure to NEADS. She has become one of the organization’s most efficient and effective volunteers and has been able to help them successfully match dogs with clients. Sullivan said of Torres, “I think the best thing about her is she keeps the purpose in her mind, always, and the purpose of raising is to get a dog to help someone and eventually be matched with a client.”

Torres’s work at Assumption has also become a full-circle experience. After getting a degree here and now working as an Administrative Assistant, she brings her dogs that she is raising with NEADS to campus. “I do frequently come to campus [with the dogs] because there are a lot of good exposures here,” said Torres. Herrera Soto, who spends a lot of time in Torres’ office, said, “Whenever she has a dog, it’s such a joy that it brings to the office and it always makes my day because I miss my dogs at home too…Assumption is lucky to have her and I’m so happy to have met her,” she said.

Alison Blair, a fourth-year student at Assumption who is an intern in the office suite in the Office of Student Affairs, has gotten to know Torres quite well and has seen the positive impacts she has had at Assumption and the greater Worcester Community. “The work that Brenda does through the Office of Student Affairs and Student Success has facilitated a cheerful and supportive environment for students in the Assumption community. She is incredibly approachable and personable. She is an asset to the University with whom students can discuss different aspects of campus life and confide in,” she said.

Torres has also inspired those around her through her work with NEADS. “The work that she does with these dogs allows them greater socialization beyond the prisons in which they train and work. I truly do not think that I can imagine anyone else who would be better suited in this role than Brenda,” Blair said.

Torres is making a difference in our world. With the ever-changing society and the challenges people face daily, it is clear that her work with service dogs is making an impact on so many people in our society. “It [has] turned into so much more than I ever dreamed it could be,” Torres said.