Service dog helps Appleton student succeed in school

APPLETON (WITI) -- A special service dog helped a Wisconsin high school student get balance back into his life.

Cole Freund is a senior in Appleton, who has cerebellar ataxia -- a rare neurological disorder that affects fine motor skills and balance.

By his junior year, Freund had to support himself on walls as he walked so he wouldn't fall down. 

Freund didn't want to use a walker and was embarrassed by his condition, so he withdrew from his friends and from school. That's when his mom looked for help, and found it in the form of a service dog named Heart.

"If I'm going to fall I can reach down and grab him and he knows as soon as I touch him that he has to stop and plant his paws down.  Then I can stabilize and wait until I'm good to go," Freund said.

Heart has given Freund more than just a sense of balance. Now, Freund has his sights set on a brighter future -- going to college to be a DNR warden.