Briggs Andera
Service Animal 

Briggs is a medical alert service dog who took an odd path to land a home in Northeast Iowa. Originally a street dog from Oklahoma, Briggs was rescued and transferred to Crossroads Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Missouri, through a program called "Missouri Puppies for Parole." There, he lived with two offenders who helped teach him some basic training. The organization works with various service dog trainers who assess the dogs for appropriate behavior and qualities to be trained as a service dog. A correctional officer accidentally brought the wrong dog for assessment and that sealed Briggs' fate - he had the qualities to be a service dog and was pulled from the public adoption list. He got his prison break when Megan was connected with Briggs through "Paws and Effect" in Des Moines. The pair went through over a year of specialized training. Briggs walked the stage with Megan in 2019 at Mount Mercy University as she graduated with her bachelor's degree in social work. He continued on with her to grad school at University of Northern Iowa. While Briggs has been unemployed and taking life easy the last 4 years, he's excited to get back to work and bring a little spark of joy and laughter to everyone's day. 

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Specialized Training in:

• Emotions

• Nose Work

• Making People Laugh