Eight future service dogs are living in Allen High School students' homes, going to class and learning commands as part of the Allen FFA Volunteer Puppy Raising Program.

The program pairs FFA students with puppies from Canine Companions, a national nonprofit that provides service dogs at no cost to adults, children and veterans with disabilities. Each student raises a puppy for 16 months, teaching basic commands and exposing the dog to different environments before it moves on to professional training.

The effort started in 2019 after Allen FFA student Hope Miriam discovered Canine Companions and pitched the idea to agricultural science teacher Stacy Schertz, according to a sponsored Allen ISD feature on Community Impact. After a year of planning, the first puppies arrived. Students have raised two to four puppies each school year since.

Schertz, who advises the Allen FFA chapter alongside Grant Brill, has raised Canine Companions dogs herself.

One of her former dogs, Melman, now serves at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Another, Wyatt, assists a person in Midland.

"To get the reports back of what the dogs are doing, and the impact that they're making on a daily basis, makes it so worth it …" Schertz said.

The current group of puppy raisers includes Lauren Scanlan with a dog named Opus, Maddie Williams with Octavia, Julia Park with Lennox, Cheney Wood with Kipling, Madison Flores with Arwin, Scarlett Jackson with Nosh, Jaedyn Yeransian with Shepherd and Amelie Schiavon with Alfonzo.

Students bring the puppies into classrooms, restaurants and public spaces to build the dogs' confidence around crowds and noise.

Williams said Octavia has become a fixture at Allen High School, where "everybody knows her name."

The students work under Chandler Stokes, Canine Companions' South Central Region puppy program manager, and community volunteers Judy Eastburn and Erin Lamonte. The group meets monthly.

Not every puppy graduates to service-dog work. Some become therapy dogs instead.

When a dog does advance to Team Training, a two-week matching program, the student who raised it may present the dog to its new partner at a graduation ceremony.

The Allen FFA chapter earned a Three-Star ranking in the 2026 National Chapter Award Program, placing it in the top 10 percent of chapters nationally.

Canine Companions, founded in 1975, has placed more than 8,500 graduate dog teams nationwide and had more than 1,100 puppies being raised by volunteers as of January 2026.

Allen's eight puppies are among them.