(VIDEO) Helping Paws Celebrates Graduation

For high schoolers, graduation is a time for celebrating years of hard work. At , it's no different.

The Hopkins-based organization provides service dogs to people with physical disabilities—such as spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or Lou Gehrig's disease. The dogs help their owners with the daily tasks of life.

Helping Paws hosted one of its twice-a-year graduation ceremonies Friday. The event was the culmination of years of work.

The organization has its own breeding program for both labs and golden retrievers. Foster homes take in the dogs at eight weeks and attend weekly classes until the dogs are about two-and-a-half years old.

Those who receive a dog then train at Helping Paws for three weeks to learn all of the cues the dog knows. 

In all, breeding, raising and training each dog costs the equivalent of $20,000—and the organization provides dogs to the applicants at no charge, except for a minimal application and equipment fee. The wait for a dog can be as long as two years. 

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