Service dog receives honorary diploma for attending classes with his human: 'He looked proud'

Have you ever imagined a dog receiving an honorary diploma for attending classes at a university? Then here you have it. In a heartwarming video posted on Reddit, a service dog is seen receiving his honorary diploma from Seton Hall University while the crowd applauds him. Grace Mariani and her service dog, Justin, went to the stage together to receive their diplomas from President Joseph Nyre, reported NPR.

In the video, Nyre tries giving the diploma first to Justin, but he pauses for a minute, looking at Mariani. After the president hands the degree to Mariani, he then gives it to Justin again and this time, the canine gently grabs it with his mouth. The crowd inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, erupted while the president also cheered for Justin.

The 6-year-old, a mix of yellow Lab and golden retriever, has reportedly attended all of Mariani's classes with her. Justin's owner received a B.S. in education, graduating magna cum laude.

Mariani wants to work in elementary education and special education. The touching video has garnered about 9.5k upvotes on Reddit. It is captioned, "Service dog receives an honorary diploma for attending all classes at university."

People enjoyed the video of the dog getting the degree. u/New_Dawn_4110 commented, "Girl graduating? Welp, no one cares, heck, she had to grab that diploma herself. But the dog gets it handed over and all applause XD What a little spotlight thief." u/the_FracTal_ wrote, "People are legit happier for the dog than for the girl." u/HypixelGamer shared, "The dog probably attended more class than most students." u/pandalee2014 said, "So amazing." u/thatguyryan09 expressed, "You see how excited the dog got? That's awesome." u/reddead_redemption commented, "Awwww. He got a degree as well!!!"

Dogs are definitely a man's best friend and always do their best to help their owners. Charlie, who rarely barks or whines, drew his owner's attention when he unusually began to bark on April 28. He alerted his owners to a fast-moving fire in their neighborhood in Clovis, California, according to The Washington Post. Chad McCollum and his wife heard the 2-year-old Australian labradoodle barking relentlessly around 2:45 am. He thought of taking the dog out to the yard thinking Charlie might have to relieve himself.

Charlie refused to come back inside and was continuously barking while looking toward one corner of the yard. "I walk over to the corner of the yard where he's barking and I see the plume of smoke up in the sky and kind of an orange glow," McCollum told PEOPLE. He quickly escorted Charlie inside the house, put on his shoes and reached the place where the smoke was coming from. An RV was on fire and it was spreading to the adjacent houses. McCollum immediately called 911 and then knocked on the front doors of both houses, shouting for the residents to wake up.

Within minutes, families emerged from their homes just as emergency responders arrived at the scene. However, by that time, the flames had already grown to approximately 20 feet. “The firefighters worked really quickly to put out the fire I was just in shock, as was everyone else,” McCollum added. He is a parent to two children, aged 10 and 13, who expressed their immense pride in Charlie and rewarded him with affectionate belly rubs and treats in the aftermath of the fire.