Hero the Service Dog Becomes Internet Celebrity After Showing Up at Graduation in Cap and Gown

Hero the Service Dog Becomes Internet Celebrity After Showing Up at Graduation in Cap and Gown

Graduation season in America means that caps and gowns are the mandated wardrobe for hundreds of thousands of people participating in commencements all around the country. But it's not just beings of the two-legged variety who get to don the popular graduation garments—a certain canine wore his own cap and gown at graduation and has become an Internet celebrity.

A woman known only by her Reddit name, f3b14, responded to a thread on the site about the happy commotion that she and her service dog, Hero, caused at a commencement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign over the weekend. She and Hero wore matching caps and gowns to the ceremony, and even crossed the stage together when she went to accept her degree.

A picture of the woman in her wheelchair with her dog standing next to her was uploaded to Reddit on Sunday, and it quickly went viral.

In her response, f3b14 wrote, "Hero knows over forty commands to assist me! He loves to retrieve objects for me like envelopes, pens, my crutches, etc. He also turns off the lights, opens doors, and he pulls me in my wheelchair up ramps! I couldn't have gone to college without him!"

So what did Hero think of wearing the cap and gown? F3b14 wrote, "He loved it! He loved all the attention too. When we were walking outside to reunite with my family, we were stopped every 10 feet for pictures by random people that loved his cap and gown! He was like a celebrity! I think he realized it was a special day!"

Congratulations to Hero, his owner and all of the graduates out there on behalf of the Trending Now team.

[Related: Woman Desperately Searches for Stolen Service Dog]

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