Going to the Dogs

Terra has done wonders with a couple of high school students. Before Terra came along they were not the best students in school: their grades were low and they had often spent time in the detention room. Terra helped to change that. Here's what she said:

Each of us dogs works with one or two students, then we take a break. We visit the "at risk" students - kids who get extra attention at this school to help them succeed in school. Our human partners show these students how to take care of us, help us practice our favorite behaviors and even teach us new things. At first, some of them act like they don't want to work with us. But pretty soon most of them realize how cool dogs really are, how much we like them and want to play with them. And then they get involved and actually have fun. That's when the treats start flying. Yes!! So far we've taught these kids some of our agility, water rescue and basic obedience moves. They don't always show it, but inside they feel happy and proud to be our partners for a day. (Dogs just know these things.)

Yes, Terra is a dog.

Terra is part of a program called Paws'itive Animal-Assisted Therapy or PAAT for short.

Quite a few educators are discovering dogs can make a difference.

Caroline Hunt, a professor of English at the College of Charleston City, North Carolina, has integrated dogs into a reading program where students read aloud to a dog.

"This idea sounds eccentric or even fraudulent, but results are positive and measurable. The secret seems to be that dogs never criticize weak or at-risk students so the reader gradually gains in confidence. Dogs that are used as adjunct therapy in psychologist/psychiatrist offices, children's homes, shelters, etc., seem to have the same effect," Hunt reports.

In an article published in Wellness E-zine Hunt discusses how dogs help in "Licking the Blues." Dogs can help kids feel good about themselves. Self-confident students are better-behaved students.

Not only have "therapy dogs" helped by simply being good listeners, but they have also helped by being good subjects. Assistance Dogs of the West, an organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico, provides trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities in order to increase self-reliance. The program uses professional trainers to teach students to train assistance, psychiatric, social therapy and seizure dogs to work with people with disabilities. They have partnered with the New Mexico Department of Children, Youth and Family Services, to train juvenile detainees ages 12-19 how to train service dogs to perform 90 commands to help a person in need of an assistance dog. The at-risk students gain knowledge, build responsibility and compassionate awareness of people with different abilities, while making concrete contributions to the community. The curriculum teaches leadership, behavioral health and positive concrete vocational skills through the hands-on responsibility of caring for an assistance dog critical to another person's independence.

There are plenty of organizations working along the same lines. Teacher's Pet works to empower at-risk youth to address issues of apathy, cruelty and violence in today's society while providing unwanted shelter dogs with behavior issues a second chance at finding a loving, permanent home. Participants are paired with difficult-top-adopt shelter dogs for a ten-week workshop centered on proper care and basic "good manners." The program runs year-round in schools and summer camps, targeting emotionally impaired youth with severe behavior disorders and shelter dogs with behavioral issues. While the children gain increased self-esteem, empathy and compassion, dogs once considered unadoptable are saved from euthanasia and adopted into loving, permanent families.

A win-win.

The Paws Across Campus Program runs a partnership with a local high school serving at-risk teens and other students with special needs. The program engages the youth of the community to help train dogs to perform tasks for children and adults with physical and/or developmental disabilities. The dogs go on to provide service for people with a range of disabilities, and include service, hearing, balance, seizure, social and therapy dogs. The semester-long program is bolstered by a reading curriculum, career guidance for dog-related job opportunities, fundraising activities, and therapy visits with dogs in training.

These activities are gaining notice by the media. The Albany (NY) Times Union Staff ran a story entitled Therapy dogs help with reading lessons: Schenectady elementary school tries new tactic for improving some students' confidence, reading scores. According to the article, "Research has shown that the non-threatening and nonjudgmental time with therapy dogs leads to increased reading scores and improved self-confidence. And ... students who have had two therapy dog sessions are already showing improvement."

"In a recent session, a golden retriever named Sasha sat on the classroom floor with two elementary school students. One student read and, as he held the book with one hand, he petted his furry friend with the other. He looked up only to see if Sasha was really paying attention. Sasha was not only paying attention but also looked as if she enjoyed the story and the company."

A school counselor is trying a pet therapy program at Taylor Road Middle School in Georgia, as well as a humane education curriculum through the health classes. The therapy dog, Linus, goes to different classes every Tuesday and Wednesday. In the classes that he goes to, the teachers have seen an increase in attendance, greater participation and better behavior. Also, the counselor sponsors a service club dedicated to helping animals through education, shelter work, volunteering, fund-raisers, etc. At last report, the club had 76 members (all students) and is the largest club at Taylor Road.

It's not easy bringing dogs into the classroom, just ask the Superintendent of Madison (Wisconsin) schools, who recently acknowledged that the discussion regarding animals in the schools "has been heated at times." At a recent school board meeting he went on to say "it's been an adventure, to say the least."

The Capital Times reported on the school board's decision to permit dogs in the classroom. "It's not just children who are getting ready to go back to school at the end of summer. One Madison teacher, who works with at-risk students, uses a trained therapy dog named Yoshi in her classroom."

She said the dog seems to know when someone is having a bad day, and that each class takes great pride in helping teach the dog something new. It encourages an atmosphere where learning is respected, she added.

"Last year, one of my students took on the challenge of teaching Yoshi commands in Spanish," she said. And now, her students take pride in having helped teach one of the smarter dogs in the world.