This crew’s crazy big vision is a program that adopts stray animals and retrains them to become service animals for people who feel isolated, anxious or disconnected. Each pet wears a special collar that links to their microchip that creates a two-way connection that helps them “communicate” their needs and read their new owner’s mood.
To get things start as a smart start experiment, the team would like to invite animal shelter operators into their school to run presentations on the benefits of pet adoption for both the new owners and the pets. These sessions will include live visits from safe, socialised shelter animals, letting students connect firsthand. Before and after the sessions, students will complete a short survey measuring how they feel, creating real data to back the emotional and wellbeing benefits of pet ownership.
