Sarah-Jane White As teachers and students head back to the classroom, the school experience is not the same for every child. There are children who struggle in the class environment and may face challenges that their peers do not.
To support students who are faced with a range of physical, emotional, social, and mental difficulties, United Disabilities Services (UDS) offers a Pups in the Classroom program that places specially trained facility dogs into the classroom to better serve such students. In addition, the calming presence of these dogs that are seen throughout the school has a positive influence on the lives of other students, teachers, and staff.
UDS dogs are specially trained and prepared for classroom environments to ensure the safety of all including the students, dogs, and school staff. To do this, Kristina Conrad, UDS’ Puppy Coordinator explains, “The dogs are trained starting on or before eight weeks old to enjoy all ages of people and are socialized in varying environments of the community. Once we decide which working path a Facility or Service dog is best suited to – a school or other facility – we focus on visiting those locations to continue to foster the growth in that area of socialization.”
Having the Pups in the Classroom program implemented in school classrooms has been a positive experience for students who interact with these facility dogs. The success stories of students who have benefited are endless. Kristina says, ‘’These dogs become the mascot of the school.” They encourage kids to learn and overcome obstacles they are facing in the classroom. Teachers have seen students thrive with these dogs in the classroom by “being able to overcome obstacles and helping to reduce the amount of anxiety students have which increases their academic performance.”
In addition to a generally positive impact of facility dogs within the school environment, there have been specific improvements in behavior that are evident to educators. For students who struggle with peer interaction, facility dogs can initiate social communication with others and lead to a greater sense of self-confidence. An observational study determined that having facility dogs in school environments ‘may increase socialization and improve healthy social development’. Dogs can illustrate ways for a student to understand compassion by being caring and gentle toward a living creature. For students prone to outbursts, the calm nature of a dog can help students manage their anger and frustration more effectively.
Having a facility dog in the classroom can be utilized in a variety of ways to support student lessons and enhance academic performance. Facility dogs serve as a ‘safe’ sounding board for students with learning disabilities and increase willingness to participate in the classroom. Facility dogs create a quiet space for easily distracted students, translating into enhanced focus and ability for the student to increase their learning.
Overall, facility dogs are a good motivational tool to inspire a student to improve performance. Kristina remarks that facility dogs are a great way to implement learning opportunities in the classroom. “Teachers integrate dogs by having students read to the dogs, learning basic care of the dog’s needs (teaching responsibility and empathy), creating English and math lessons involving dogs, and incentivizing appropriate behavior using the dog as a reward.”
The process of starting a Pups in the Classroom program can take some time and requires several steps. To help with the process, Kristina states that UDS has experienced trainers and program leaders to walk you through the process from beginning to middle to end. “The first step is to create a proposal to the school board citing the benefits and plans for the care of the dog. Once you have approval then it is best to complete an application and go through the interview process. If accepted, then getting involved as a volunteer can help with the wait time until the appropriate dog is ready.” While in some cases there may be resistance from district administrators because of allergies and liabilities, Kristina is quick to add that, “UDS can help work through those items in our experience working with other schools.”
Keeping a range within 5 hours of UDS’ main office located in Lancaster, PA helps to keep a geographical region in close proximity to their clients. Kristina explains, “Once a dog is placed at the school, they attend there every day. Most of our dogs are currently placed within 1.5 hours of UDS, but we do have a few further distances on our waiting list. We want to ensure that we are available to support our clients before, during, and after receiving their facility dog.”
If you’re a principal, teacher, or guidance counselor and are interested in Pups in the Classroom, please complete our facility dog application.
