Utica’s AHL team has a new member of their roster, but this one has four legs and slips on the ice a lot.
Comet is one popular pooch.
“Yeah, he’s pretty famous. He’ll untie your shoes just so you know,” Denise Luker said as she walked Comet through the halls of the Adirondack Bank Center.
Denise and Joe Luker are his handlers.
“No bites, where is your manners?” Denise asks the 16-week old pup.
The lovable lab is at every Utica home game.
“Right now he’s little and he just needs to be socialized and enjoy everything,” Denise said.
Being in a loud environment like a hockey game is getting Comet ready for a very important job.
“I always say that they’re training to be a superhero,” Denise said.
Denise and Joe are volunteers with Freedom Guide Dogs, a non-profit that breeds, trains and places guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired.
“This way, you know that it’s going to a good cause, to someone who actually needs the dog to get around and survive,” Joe said.
“If you do it well and work hard at it, hopefully the dog will be a guide dog for a blind person, someone who really needs it,” Denise said.
Utica partnered with Freedom Guide Dogs to help raise and train the pup.
“We have to reach him basic obedience, and to be a nice, polite dog,” Denise said.
After a year and a half with Joe and Denise, Comet will go to formal training.
“Well, we hate giving them up because the heartache is absolutely terrible, but everything else about it is good,” Denise said.
But before the cute canine moves on, he will be in the halls, in the locker room, and sometimes on the ice, as the most adorable new member of the Comets roster.
Having a “team dog,” isn’t a totally new thing either. As of 2020, 9 NHL teams had dogs, and most of them were being trained to help people with disabilities.
