Puppy love!
There’s a new staff member at Bishop England High School - and he’s hit the ground running. Each day, he can be found greeting students and staff in the mornings, monitoring the lunch room, participating in counseling sessions, exercising with students during PE, working on special classroom projects, supporting teams, and he enthusiastically sends everyone off at the end of the day. He has already initiated a wildly popular service club with 80 members and counting, and has his own Instagram page.
Meet Moses, BEHS’s new Mental Health Therapy Dog in training. Moses is a Mini-Bernedoodle puppy who has been training at the school for the past two months. His owner and trainer is Janel Swanson, physical education teacher and a coach for the school’s varsity volleyball team.
“Moses’ job is to bring some lightness to the stress of our everyday lives,” explained Swanson.
He peruses the campus daily to meet with students and can be “checked out like a library book” by any teacher for classroom activities. His presence has an immediate impact: students feel happier, more secure, and are more likely to open up and express feelings to their teachers.
Swanson lost a beloved family pet last year and had no intention of bringing a new puppy into the family, but God had other plans, she said. She kept receiving “little nudges” while simultaneously learning more about the benefits of having dogs play therapeutic roles in schools. She began the journey with hours of research and presented a plan to the staff at BEHS. As a staff member, Swanson thinks about ways to “look beyond academics and care for each student as a whole person.” She remarked, “The pressure on students is greater than ever, and this provides a good outlet for stress reduction.”
Therapy dogs have been called “miracle workers” because of their calming effect on students and teachers. The Alliance of Therapy Dogs lists the physical benefits of interaction to include reduced blood pressure, physical stimulation and pain management assistance. Socially, students can experience “greater self-esteem and focused interaction with other students and teachers.” Cognitive benefits include stimulated memory and problem solving skills. Emotionally, therapy dogs lift the mood in the classroom, encourage friendship, and provide a shoulder to lean on.
Swanson chose the Mini-Bernedoodle because it’s a hypoallergenic breed with traits that make a good therapy candidate: easy to train, intelligent, affectionate, gentle, kid-friendly, and adaptable. Though Moses is still a puppy, he has a mellow, go-with-the-flow personality and has a keen sense of empathy to provide comfort to teens who feel sad or worried.
Moses’ continued training consists of a series of obedience classes, ending with American Kennel Club Good Citizen Certification, which is a 10-step test to demonstrate a dog’s confidence and control in specific situations. He will then test his skills in real-life situations during visits to medical facilities, schools, assisted living centers, etc. Once Moses has completed his formal training, Swanson hopes to have him wander the school independently, seeking out the areas where he is needed. Additionally, his responsibilities will expand beyond the campus to allow students in his service club to take the lead with scheduled visits to local nursing homes and hospitals, as they work to educate the community about the therapy program.