Education Week - February 8, 2023 - 13

ance. Such a model is less expensive
and challenging than building a program
from scratch.
Schools can contact local volunteer
handler groups or consult organizations
like Pet Partners or the American
Kennel Club to locate teams, she
said.
Whatever model a school uses,
dogs should be given plenty of days
off and time to rest on-site so they
don't burn out in a high sensory environment,
VonLintel said.
Toby, who was rescued as part
of an animal welfare investigation,
comes to school one day a week. He
spins in excited circles when he sees
VonLintel pick up the backpack that
contains the gear he needs to go to
work. If he ever looked tired or hesitant,
she would leave him at home.
Answering logistical questions
* Insurance for on-site dogs-which
dog is tired or stressed and monitor
its interactions with students, said
Helen Holmquist-Johnson, director
of Human-Animal Bond in Colorado,
a research center at Colorado
State University that helps train and
screen volunteer handlers to work in
30 schools in the region. Researchers
there also study the effects of animalassisted
interventions, and develop
approaches for students with specific
conditions like autism.
Holmquist-Johnson recommends
vetted, well-developed training programs
like those offered by Pet Partners,
a nonprofit organization for
volunteer handlers.
Launching a therapy dog program
with community support
Access to training was a big concern
for Baker, the counselor in the
Morris, Okla., district, where the
therapy dog program is still in its infancy.
The
rural school system had not
had an elementary school counselor
in over 20 years when Baker started
there in 2021, her position funded by
a state grant.
In her first few weeks on the job,
she noticed that students were struggling
with behavior and emotions
after months of COVID-19 disruptions-part
of a national trend. The
American Academy of Pediatrics
and the U.S. Surgeon General have
sounded the alarm about a youth
mental health crisis worsened by the
pandemic.
In Morris, some children had lost
family members-and some were just
uncomfortable in the school environment.
Those students seemed to be
" frozen in time, " still in the place they
were developmentally at the beginning
of the pandemic, she said.
Baker had experience working
with therapy dogs in her previous
role in the juvenile justice system
and thought they might be a good fit
for Morris.
She was early in her research when
she got a call from a breeder about the
dog she later named Kalani. She was
the one puppy left in a litter of what
are commonly known as goldendoodles-a
mix of golden retriever and a
poodle bred with the intention of creating
a lower-shedding coat. Unlike
the other puppies, Kalani wasn't born
with a curly coat, and people were less
interested in buying her.
The breeder offered to donate Kalani
to the district for use as a therapy
dog. Later, another breeder donated
Shadow, a black goldendoodle who is
handled by the elementary school's
librarian and occasionally works in
the district's high school.
Morris schools designated the
dogs as property of the district,
and not the employees who handle
them at school and care for them at
home. That allowed Baker, librarian
Lisa Merrill, and Principal Becky
Alexander to add the animals to the
district's insurance plan and to raise
money that helped pay for training.
The $10,000 in private donations
covered an intensive boarding
program that allowed the dogs to
learn on-site at a training facility for
several two-week sessions, and additional
handler training for Baker
and Merrill that worked with their
schedules.
That training prepared the dogs to
remain calm and disciplined in unfamiliar
environments. They went
to Walmart and Sams Club to get
exposed to crowds and noises, like
shopping carts and fork lifts, so that
they'd be comfortable around mobility
aids like wheelchairs and students
with various visible disabilities.
The community quickly recognized
the benefits of the dogs,
whose harnesses bear the logos of
some businesses that helped covered
training costs, Alexander said.
" So many schools are in the same
boat as us, " she said. " They say, 'I
want to do it. We've got our team,
but we don't know the steps to do
it,' " she said.
Tap into local, trained volunteer
handlers
VonLintel, the Loveland counselor,
recommends coordinating with
trained volunteer handlers who bring
in their own dogs and manage things
like training, certification, and insurKalani
greets Madeleine,
a classroom guinea pig,
at Morris Elementary School
last month.
covers the cost of liability in the event
the animals injure a person-may
come through a professional organization,
like a school social workers organization,
through the school's existing
insurance plan, through a handler's
homeowner's insurance, or through
a supplemental plan, depending on
various state and local laws.
* Schools with therapy dogs must
send forms home to parents to identify
students with allergies or aversions
to dogs. They should do the
same for staff, and handlers should
work to avoid classrooms or spaces
where people may be uncomfortable.
As would-be handlers select dogs
to train for therapy work, HolmquistJohnson,
of Colorado State University,
said the individual animal's personality
matters far more than the
breed. School handlers should look
for an animal-whether a purebred
puppy or a mixed-breed shelter dog-
that is friendly and eager to engage,
she said.
" Our number-one qualifier is that
they have to love people, " she said.
Building on that foundation, welltrained
dogs can serve a variety of
purposes in schools, handlers said.
Some may greet kindergartners
anxious about leaving their parents
on the first day of school. Some may
play fetch with a student as a reward
for improved behavior in the classroom.
Some may sit and listen as two
students talk through a conflict with
their school counselor, serving as
both a living mascot and a comforting
bit of familiarity.
Sometimes, teachers even stop to
center themselves with Shadow after
a stressful day, Merrill said.
" Everybody is carrying a lot of
extra weight these days, " she said.
" Having them provides an outlet for
everyone. "
Coverage of whole-child approaches
to learning is supported in part by
a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg
Initiative, at www.chanzuckerberg.com.
Education Week retains sole editorial
control over the content of this coverage.
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