Picture Paw-fect: Service dog 🐶 gets featured in high school yearbook
AJ says Alpha turns his disability into 'a blessing rather than a negative part' of his life. Source: Shutterstock

Alpha, Andrew “AJ” Schalk’s service dog has found himself in a rare position as one of the few canines whose photo made it into a high school yearbook.

According to BuzzfeedAlpha helps Schalk who has Type 1 Diabetes, to monitor his blood sugar by alerting him when his blood sugar is getting too high or too low. Schalk says Alpha has saved his life several times before, when his blood sugar was nearing dangerous levels.

Schalk’s school, Stafford High School, seems set on not letting Alpha’s contribution to mankind go unnoticed. Hence, the school bestowed the pooch his very own yearbook photo next to his owner under the name “Alpha Schalk”.

“I just brought him with me when I got my yearbook picture taken,” Schalk said.

“The only thing they changed was the camera height. They just had to lower it a little.”

Alpha follows AJ to school and even to his classes, making him a part of the school’s community. According to Schalk, Alpha even has his own school ID.

So when AJ asked the people in charge of the yearbook whether Alpha could be included, they were 100 percent in on the idea.

“They put his service dog in the yearbook i’m CRYING”, tweeted Diana Bloom, one of Stafford’s senior.

“I thought it was so cute, and I knew some of my underclassmen friends hadn’t seen it yet because they didn’t have their yearbooks, so I took a picture and tweeted it,” Bloom told BuzzFeed News.

Bloom is not the only one ecstatic about Alpha’s inclusion in the yearbook. People have been posting about how Alpha’s yearbook photo is melting their hearts.

One user @ga_tor_ade tweeted: “THE PUREST LITTLE BEAN😭 💕“, while another @chi_towngirl80 tweeted: “This made my whole day”.

https://twitter.com/meganhubbard445/status/865776383229865984

https://twitter.com/aneesaaa__/status/866430204960542721

“He makes a disability, such as my diabetes, such a positive experience for me and my life overall, and really turns it into a blessing rather than a negative part of my life,” Schalk said.

“He has been a great companion and added a lot of happiness to my school’s environment.”

Liked this? Then you’ll love these…

‘Why you should date me’ PowerPoint presentation by student goes viral

Student grades ex-girlfriend’s apology letter in viral tweet