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The 2026 college football season opens Saturday in Baton Rouge with LSU hosting Clemson, a matchup that should, by campus logic, center entirely on the athletes.
What complicates that picture: both schools run Canine Companions puppy-raising clubs, and raisers say the dogs stop more strangers on a quad than most things in a jersey.
Canine Companions, a national nonprofit founded in 1975 in Santa Rosa, California, places purpose-bred Labrador Retrievers with people who have physical disabilities, cognitive challenges, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and with professionals in health care, criminal justice, and education.
The organization has placed more than 8,500 dogs since Abdul, its first placement, in 1976.
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