Teacher’s dogs in classroom?

Basically it is simply inappropriate to have a dog in the classroom. The teacher is there to do a professional job and concentrate on the children, not to be keeping her dog under control and keeping the children from pestering the dog.
Leave it at home. That is where it belongs.
It beggars belief that anyone would even think about doing this, let alone getting permission for it.
Truly mad.

It's also not just the child's allergies, but what dog hairs etc they might be bringing back to the home that might aggravate a family member's health.

Hypoallergenic dogs was just a genius marketing idea someone had.

www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/conditions-library/allergies/dog-myths

I’m not sure all parents would mention dog allergies in a school form? They’d be concentrating on things they’d expect their child to come across in a school environment.

Also parents may not be aware of a young child’s allergy if they don’t have pets themselves. Pet allergies also take time to develop. Babies very rarely have them. They often develop in childhood, sometimes even in adulthood.

Why indeed?

No idea, I keep my dogs far away from most people. But, why do so many parent think they don’t need to teach their “babies” about dogs? Particularly since, according to MN, dogs are “everywhere” now?

Why have so many people started to believe they need to take their dogs EVERYWHERE like they are babies or something?

Your actual JOB as a parent is to help him to manage that fear? It is misplaced and unnecessary to avoid it, because the vast majority of dogs are fine. That fear will not help him as a child, or in adulthood, because, as so many MN state, dogs are everywhere now. Will you really just help him avoid everything he is fearful of, forever? How does that help him grow into an adult?

My son is scared of dogs and it's bad enough trying to avoid them as much as possible as it is without one showing up at school too. I wouldn't be happy at all.

I’d assume the grades weren’t related to the dogs but the dogs haven’t hindered them and the staff are really happy to have the work life balance that other places might not offer. None are trained as specialist dogs just family pets the dc can also enjoy. This is ages nursery to a levels. On mn people freak out about dogs in schools but in rl it was normal when dd1 was at primary - she’s now 18. It’s not a new phenomenon and was happening pre covid.

We have a 'school dog'. She belongs to a non-teaching member of staff, but she is also a fully trained PAT (Pets as Therapy) dog. She spends most of the school day in her owners office, which is in a quiet part of the school and she has her bed, toys and treats in there. Children can come to see the dog as a reward, or if they're upset and need some calm time. Some children who struggle with reading also prefer to read to the dog rather than an adult. TA's will often walk the dog around the grounds with a child who needs to talk about friendship issues/worries. But she very rarely goes into a classroom, and if she does it's for a specific purpose and only briefly, and she would be on a lead not wandering around freely going up to children. Part of the risk assessment is that she is never allowed off the lead in school unless she's in her designated office. Importantly, on admission parents are given a form explaining about the dog and asking about allergies and if they don't sign to give permission then their child will not interact with the dog at all. No child is ever forced to spend time with the dog, even if their parents have given permission.

The set up OP is describing on the other hand sounds bizarre and is wildly removed from my experience of 'school dogs'. I've never worked in a school where that would be allowed, and I've worked in a lot of schools. OP, I think it would be completely reasonable to email the Head Teacher her to clarify the purpose of the dogs being there, what measures have been taken to ensure safety, and what arrangements are in place for children who are scared/allergic. I imagine very little learning happens on days when two dogs are wandering around the classroom, it would be very distracting!

But why do they all take their dogs in? Would they like it if pupils started taking their dogs in? Obviously not as it would be unsafe which should occur to them now.

Dogs should not be in schools! Yes at the odd summer fayre outdoors or whatever on a lead but not as a normal everyday occurrence. Why are some teachers unable to look after their dogs responsibly and use day care or pay walkers?

Our head teacher at primary used to bring his golden retriever in on Fridays and secondary school had a resident cockerpoo. They both were great for calming autistic dc. It seemed to be the norm round here. My friend works at a private school and they all take their dogs in - all well behaved and school gets great results. Managed carefully it can be fab for dc and staff morale.

A quick Google gives you several suggestions as to where to go with this issue/ which dogs are allowed in school etc
A random dog in school does sound like a nono overall - there needs to be risk assessments, a highly trained dog, suitable for the age of the children it is around.
Keep pushing back against it and if needs be look at the complaints policy in school to take it further.

This seems mad. It’s entirely different to having a dog in the school office or headteachers office. Apart from the risk assessments and insurance it must be distracting, especially for 4 year olds who struggle to concentrate anyway. It just seems utterly inappropriate in a school. It also seems unfair on the dogs to be stuck in what will be a noisy classroom but be expected to not get excited. I can’t see how it can work at all. I’d ask to move to one of the other classes and if that fails I’d write to the Head and the governors

As a dog-owning teacher, this is bonkers! Small children are unpredictable with their movements and sounds - this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I’d definitely be raising it with school.
We have a trained therapy dog at the school I work at which is fine, as it is a choice to spend time with the dog, with parental consent, and the dog gets breaks away from everyone.

OK, no need for the somewhat aggressive tone
What I was getting at was is this just some hare-brained idea the teacher's had, the head doesn't know but is sensible and will have a conniption when they find out.
EDITED typo

Of course they bloody know. Don't be daft. You can't fart in a primary school without everyone knowing within the hour.

Any head teacher worth her salt would be putting a stop to this. The teacher should be told to make suitable arrangements for her dogs during her working hours. If she can't afford to pay for daycare, she needs to find a different job or accept that she is not at the right stage in her life to have dogs.

Completely inappropriate and unprofressional for a teacher to bring their dog to work. Should we let the Tesco checkout girl bring her newborn on shift, so she can breastfeed whilst scanning items? Or your GP have her cat brushing against your leg whilst you describe your symptoms?

Leave your family at home. Work is work.

Also sorry imagine trying to teach or a child being upset, pastoral issue, needing 1-1 support and there's a dog barking or jumping up...

I am a teacher and that is absolutely mad! I'd be complaining. She obviously just doesn't want to pay for a dog-sitter. What if there was a child in class with allergies?

I used to work in a school where the head would bring her dog in, keep it shut in her office during the day but take it for walks in the playground before the kids got in and let it run around including through the canteen on INSET days. So unhygienic 🤢 one time we found dog poo in a classroom! She was terrifying and no one could say anything.

Not normal! Amazed that’s allowed, the dogs could bite the children or some may have allergies? My kids are terrified of dogs, that would be hell for them

Dog allergies are extremely common. It’s highly likely there will be at least one in every class.

It can make you extremely unwell. I myself am a sufferer and it’s infuriating there are flipping dogs everywhere all the time these days.

The dog does not need to be in a classroom. I can see there might be some benefit to a genuine therapy dog visiting the school on occasion for children and parents who wish to participate. But again, it does not need to be in a classroom.