More than 14 Kenwood High School special education students received certificates and awards at a graduation ceremony Wednesday to mark their completion of an eight-week class conducted by the therapy dog organization Karma Dogs.

Students in the school’s Functional Academic Learning Support (FALS) Program learned how to care for a dog on a daily basis, how to groom and train a dog, and when and why it’s important to take a dog to visit the vet.

The program was funded by Erickson Retirement Communities and public donations and conducted by Karma Dogs in conjunction with the FALS Program.

Karma Dogs is a Baltimore-based nonprofit organization dedicated to rehabilitating rescued dogs into therapy dogs and has developed various program aimed at working with people with special needs.

Among its canine members is my dog Ace. A video of his experience as a therapy dog can be found here.

(Photo courtesy of Karma Dogs)