• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Features
  • Campus News
  • CSUDH.edu
  • Contact
  • People
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Faculty Highlights
    • Alumni
  • Magazine
  • For Journalists
    • CSUDH In The News
    • Press Releases
    • Facts and Figures
    • Find Media Experts
    • Gallery
    • News Reporting on Campus

CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

You are here: Home / Archive / Features / Andre Green navigates campus with a little help from ‘man’s best friend’

Andre Green navigates campus with a little help from ‘man’s best friend’

September 15, 2015

“Are we going? Are we going? Are we going?”

That’s what California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) graduate student Andre Green believes his new 2-year-old guide dog Heath is expressing each time they get ready to leave their home in Los Angeles to travel to campus, or to go on an errand.

Heath’s personality and temperament are just what Green, a 50-year-old who is working on his master’s degree in sociology, looks for in a service dog.

Andre Green and Heath
Sociology student Andre Green and his service dog Heath.

“Heath, who I just got in July, is already adjusted to my style. At home he follows me wherever I go,” said Green, who lost his vision 26 years ago. “It’s not until I take my shoes off that he’ll go over and lay down. He then knows I’m not going anywhere, so he can relax.”

Green went more than a year and a half without a service dog after his previous dog, Teagan, was retired in November 2013. With a busy school and work schedule, Green initially couldn’t find the two weeks needed to attend the Guide Dogs of American (GDA) courses necessary to train with a new dog. And then there was the matter of finding the right fit.

“I didn’t get to the training classes until January of this year. I was at the school for nine days to be trained with another dog—not Heath. But that didn’t work out. It just wasn’t a match and we didn’t bond, so I ended that training. I wasn’t able to get back to the school until this July, and that’s when I got Heath,” said Green. “I need a happy dog. I need a go-getter, a fast runner and dog that is ready to work, like Heath.”

With the keen vision and intelligence that are traits of Labrador Retrievers, Heath makes things a lot easier for Green while navigating the sprawling CSUDH campus.

“There was many times I got lost rushing to my ride at night, and even when I am not in a rush I tend to go the wrong way if I am not sure where I am. I can surely get lost because one wrong turn can get you confused,” said Green, who also earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology at CSUDH.

“The best thing Heath does for me is get me to every department, which is good because I need to get to them in a timely manner,” he added. “Once I show him and tell him what the name of the building is, he remembers. So I don’t have to wonder where I am at all with him. I just tell him where I need to go. He gets me there faster, and safer.”

Green typically doesn’t have any problems with other students when walking around campus with Heath. In fact, students often ask him about his dog before they inquire about him.

However, Green does have to put his foot down when it comes to others petting his guide dog. He sometimes would place a “Please don’t pet the dog” sign on his previous dogs.

“When you see a harness on a dog, you shouldn’t just walk up to the dog and start petting him,” said Green “Then, the next time he sees that person, he thinks ‘I know you,’ then goes over there as opposed to doing his job. I may not know he took that detour because I think he’s doing the demand I gave him.”

In addition to his coursework, Green is also employed on campus as a peer mentor in Disabled Student Services (DSS), assisting others students with disabilities navigate college life. He does everything from suggesting the best courses for them to take so they may graduate faster, to just being that person who’s been where they are and can offer a friendly ear.

“I’m a student as well, which helps me out a lot when working with my fellow students. Knowing what classes to take and those that are not necessary is very important for them,” said Green, who has been working for DSS for three years. “I talk to them one student to another, and sometimes even give them personal advice if they ask.”

Green would like to work as rehabilitation counselor in vocational rehabilitation after college or stay with DSS, if the opportunity presents itself. But for now, he looks forward to continuing to work with his fellow students and attending classes, which is a restful time for Heath.

“In class Heath just lies down and goes to sleep. He even snores, then the class starts laughing,” he said. “However, it does not distract the professor from teaching.”

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Sociology, Staff, Students

Recent Features

Ricardo Martinez with fellow youth commissioners at an outreach event in 2022.

Toro Makes an Impact as Youth Commissioner

January 12, 2023

At 23, CSUDH junior Ricardo Ortega Martinez Jr. is already a veteran in California politics. “My advocacy and community organizing started at the age of 17,” says Martinez, a political science major whose early experience with foster care growing up in Huntington Park helped shape the focus of his current advocacy ... Read More

Ken Seligson with The Maya and Climate Change book in foreground

New Book Explores the Resilience of the Ancient Maya

December 2, 2022

Throughout human history, civilizations have had to adapt to ever-shifting environments in order to survive—whether sudden, catastrophic climate events, or gradual changes that span centuries. These human-environmental relationships are at the center of The Maya and Climate Change (Oxford University Press, Nov. 2022), ... Read More

Helping Student Vets Chart a Path to Success

November 10, 2022

Tucked away on the third floor of Leo F. Cain Library, the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) may be small, but it exerts an outsized influence on the lives of students making the challenging transition from military service to academic life. “The Veterans Resource Center is the reason I’m here today and about to ... Read More

... see all Featured Stories

Primary Sidebar

Social Media

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram
LinkedIn
SOCIALICON

Footer

California State University, Dominguez Hills Logo

1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747
1-310-243-2001 • Send Email

Related Sites

  • csudh.edu
  • magazine.csudh.edu
  • gotoros.com

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get CSUDH News directly in your inbox

Copyright © 2023 · California State University, Dominguez Hills