Teacher’s dogs in classroom?

It does seem strange nowadays, I agree.
But I vaguely remember having a class pet when I was at infant school (late 70s/early 80s), and the pupils would take turns to look after it over the holidays. It was in a cage though, so most likely a hamster.
Is this still a thing?

They can be quite dangerous too. Seen a few articles about them doing serious damage to their own owners faces. They look small and cute but are actually working dogs bred for hunting so I don't think small children should be around them without serious supervision.

I’m a dog trainer and feel very strongly that 2 dogs ,apparently untrained, left loose in the classroom day in and day out is a safety risk to both the children AND the dogs.
Hard no from me

The simplest solution is to ask for your DC to be switched to another class. Cite allergies if you have to. This should not be allowed - where’s the head in all this? Were you shown a risk assessment? What about DC with asthma triggered by animal fur?

My DD was petrified of dogs at that age. No way would I'd have been happy with a dog in the classroom constantly. She'd have been nervous the whole time, very unsettling and unfair. She is in Yr 6 now and the school got a dog when she was in about Yr 3. It's the headteachers dog. The dog comes in about 3 days a week.

It's not in the classrooms at all, my daughter is getting soo much better but the head knew she was nervous so encouraged my daughter appropriately and it's built up over time. It's been great for her as I'm never getting a pet.

I definitely agree that you need to raise this issue, totally unfair on the kids for the teacher to be spending some of her time with the dogs rather than teaching, plus the issue of nervous kids around dogs!

Drop an email into the school and ask if you can see the risk assessment for the dogs coming in, if the dogs have undergone any specific training and if their insurance covers them to be there.
All three of my children’s schools have dogs on the premises, they are part of the SEN team, stay in the various offices during the day (never the classrooms) they have undergone PAT training and the school sent out information about this, the insurance etc
The dogs are on hand if someone needs a cuddle, go for a walk with those who need a moment etc they aren’t randomly in one classroom
I’m a dog lover but I would question how stressful the dogs find being in a classroom with 30 small people and how there will be adequate supervision in place with so many children.

Nope. Absolutely not. My brother and myself were rushed at by a lab and a terrier walking down the canal when we were about 2 and 4. Horrifically one of the animals bit my brothers hand and he had to have stitches. Since then I have loathed dogs. I can cope with the dog my dad has - a staffie as he’s a daft, older dog who doesn’t run, has never bitten or jumped up in his life and honestly is just super lazy. But anything other than a dog that I personally know is 100% trained, I would be putting my foot down.
You are well within your rights OP to complain to the school and ask them to sort this. Even if they’re “therapy” registered, they do not have to be in a classroom.

Both of my girls are allergic to pet dander
They can't even go in my sister's house anymore because of the fur from my nephew's therapy cat
Would I be expected to dose them up on antihistamines just to go to school?
Seems mad to me

I love dogs and know I wouldn't get any work done if I was a child and one was in the classroom. I think it's great to bring animals in but the owner needs to introduce them under strict supervision.

Some children will be allergic and what happens when one treads on a tail and gets bitten.

i work for a pet insurance company and we do from time to time get questions about dogs going into schools and is this covered. I’d be wanting to be sure she has third party liability insurance and has had permission from the insurer to take to dogs into a school environment. Other than that I think it is a nice thing.

I find this nearly unbelievable.
Yanbu to not want this.
Two of my children love dogs, two do not.

I wouldn't find this acceptable at all.
I think you should have been told this long before now.
As in it should be on the schools website.
That the teachers lifestyle choices are a school priority 🙄.

I would ask for a different class.
I would be extremely pissed off to be put in a position of having to point out how unacceptable this is.

My kids went to a small private school where there were multiple staff dogs in lessons and on campus. ( a dozen or so) The HT had one that children used to go and visit at break time and were allowed to take for walks once they were in y9+. The dogs seemed to allow children to bond and better get to know the staff. I appreciate there will be people who hate this type of thing, but it was made clear at the point of viewing the school that this was part of the school culture. If you didn’t like it/had allergies you didn’t send them. I am, however, surprised that it is allowed in state schools. H&S regulations must make that fraught with issues.

Not a chance would I be ok with that. I am a primary school teacher, we have a therapy dog that comes into school. It has gone through training, has insurance and there are risk assessments. Shes a lovely dog but stays on her lead and is in the library the day she comes in and children go to her 1 at a time. So many things could go wrong which would lead to children or the dog being hurt.
It is not up to the school to sort her care arrangements for the dogs by allowing them in the classroom

This is not normal and not fair. I absolutely love dogs but having two dogs constantly in a child’s classroom ought to be a choice, not foisted upon you. It’s been presented as a fait accompli and now you have the awkward choice of having to ‘put up’ with the dogs despite not being comfortable with it, or be seen as complaining.

The school should never have put you in this position.

As for risk assessments, yes they’re needed, but if someone has already determined they want to do something, they’ll just make the risk assessment fit around that, and aren’t necessarily worth the paper they’re written on.

But, again, do you think the school never considered this with their health and safety, insurance etc?

It's so basic. Do you think schools just don't have the capacity to think or consider basic concepts? Do you think they weren't aware of dogs having teeth and children having allergies before implementing this as part of the curriculum?

It just seems strange to me.

Also, the OP doesn't mention her child having allergies so it's not a concern for her, anyway. It just derails the thread.

Our dog is a trained wellbeing dog but she has her own ‘office’ and children who benefit from her visit her there and take her for walks. This scenario you describe doesn’t sound right. I’d speak up about it

There is an adult nearby listening in! The police and courts use dogs for this as well.

I love dogs, but am severely allergic to them.
This would not have been possible for me.
Personally I think this is nuts

I wouldn't put a dog in that position, first of all. Way too overstimulating. It's also really unfair on kids who are allergic, autistic kids who are often rightly scared of dogs' unpredictability, kids who are easily distracted...

I like dogs, but they shouldn’t be allowed in a lot of places - including classrooms.

Hope the dog gives the kid really good advice

Probably because spiders and snakes are normally in a tank and less likely to lock jaws around a child’s body part if surprised. See also allergies. Really poorly thought out if this is true.

Completely ridiculous, I have a very well behaved trainable working dog who literally sleeps between the school runs and she would never be suitable to have in a classroom of 4 year olds. Someone needs to speak up and put their foot down. It sounds like someone got two dogs prone to separation anxiety and didn’t really think through the costs of having them and is now trying to make the school her dog sitter.

Who walks them and takes them for wees and poos all day? I sure hope they aren’t just shitting in the school yard where all the children roll around? What happens if they need to poo in the middle of phonics? Sorry, this screams school with poor leadership to me.

Some schools have school dogs or therapy dogs, and there can be huge benefits. Children will talk to a dog when they wouldn't talk to a human adult. I think though that those dogs have special training and full risk assessments are carried out.

In this situation I'd be worried that the year R classroom is quite a noisy place and that the dogs could feel overwhelmed - do they have somewhere to retreat to if they want a break from 30 children? If not that potentially exacerbate the risk of injury if the dog isn't in the mood to be petted or wants some peace and quiet