Harold, a disabled therapy dog from San Mateo, Calif., recently received a new set of wheels designed by Bay Area elementary and high school students.
The paralyzed Chihuahua mix is the ambassador of UP Academy, an elementary school that offers all children an inclusive learning environment.
UP Academy founder Tanya Sheckley and her family adopted Harold last year after he was abandoned on a roadside. Determined to help their new ambassador with her puppy’s mobility issues, students began brainstorming different designs to help him get up and moving again. Then, engineering students from the nearby Mountain View High School wanted to help. They measured Harold with their 3D equipment and went to work fashioning a prototype, a fiberglass sleeve equipped with skateboard wheels.
“Being able to give [Harold] something to put him at the same level of every other dog’s experience is really meaningful,” Mountain View High School student Sabina Davis told ABC7. “I myself don’t have a dog, but I love dogs and think they’re really great. With the concept of them being our companion, we should be able to treat them with the same love that we treat ourselves.”
The proud children presented Harold with his new set of wheels, which has been named “the dinosaur,” last week. Now, he’s zooming around like never before.
