There’s something special about a kid and his dog.

Children and canines often forge strong bonds of love and loyalty, reinforced by daily games of fetch, the sharing of people food, and the expending of energy that it seems only kids and dogs possess.

But for some kids at Oak Harbor Middle School, the relationships with “their” dogs is the foundation for much more than companionship, and the dogs don’t get spoiled.

These ordinary dogs will grow to accomplish extraordinary tasks. And the kids are helping.

The students, all boys, are in a special education program at the school. The dogs are new trainees with the Summit Assistance Dogs organization. Together they are bringing out the best in each other.

A new program to Oak Harbor School District this year, the dogs are receiving valuable basic training that will hopefully take them to the next step in becoming an assistance dog for a physically challenged or sight-impaired person. The kids are learning lessons in love, loyalty. and accomplishment, that boosts self-esteem. The use of positive reinforcement is effective on both the children and the dogs.

“I see a lot of changes in a lot of the boys,” said Larry Kilburn, the teacher of the class who works with the dogs for an hour every day. Positive reinforcement, Kilburn said, is showing the boys that they can get attention for doing good things.

Training the dogs is also teaching the boys that accomplishing a goal isn’t always easy, and that bad days happen but it’s important not to give up, just like teachers never give up on their students.

“My favorite story is one of the students was having a really bad day with his dog,” Kilburn said, “then a little light bulb went off.”

The student told Kilburn that he suddenly understood what the teachers go through with them, the students, at times. The students are also seeing that their work will help people. Every day when Summit staff and volunteers bring the group of dogs to Oak Harbor Middle School to work with the boys, Janice Horton is there to help.

Horton volunteers her time to help the boys train the dogs, and one day she will receive a Summit-trained dog as her own companion and assistance dog.

Horton is wheelchair-bound, not having the use of her legs.

Michael Barrett, a 14-year-old student in the class, is training Morgan, a male Golden Retriever that will become Horton’s dog.

“It’s really helped me because I’ve never been used to working with a dog,” Barrett said. “And because of this I can handle things in a better way.”

Barrett seems to understand that while he trains the dog, he is receiving valuable lessons that extend into other areas of his life.

“It’s really important for me to keep doing this,” Barrett said.

The students also had a special visitor in class on Wednesday. The meeting was yet another example of who the students are helping with their work.

Daniel Makus has been blind as a result of a degenerative eye disease since he was 22 years old. Makus has owned his guide dog, Luca, for ten years.

“Luca’s job is to get me safely from one place to another,” Makus told the boys. Luca even went to college every day with Makus, who maintained a 3.92 gpa and is now a software designer who creates software to aid handicapped people.

Makus said it was important for him to share his story with the boys, so that he can show them first-hand who they are helping by training the dogs. Makus said he also likes to help educate people about those with disabilities.

“I think the more people that understand what a blind person has to go through, or someone with a disability, it encourages others to follow and understand it,” Makus said.

Summit Assistance Dogs is a not-for-profit organization based in Anacortes. The dogs are carefully selected for intelligence and temperament, and many are rescued from animal shelters.

After nine months of training the dogs, under the supervision of Summit Certified Assistance Dog Trainer Sue Meinzinger, the dogs will go to their news homes, where they will assist their owners in daily living.

The program is funded by a $27,000 grant from the Discuren Foundation of Seattle. Additionally, Boeing Employees Community Fund donated $14,000 to buy a new van to transport that dogs to and from their training.