School has puppy, not a great idea

[Rainbowtrees]

www.thecomet.net/news/longmeadow-primary-school-in-stevenage-employs-therapy-labrador-murphy-1-5556930

A local school has a puppy. It’s a lovely idea yet puppies are far from calming! They are crazy, cute little bundles of fun - they can go from adorable to little devils in seconds especially when over stimulated.

AIBU to think a puppy in a school is not a good idea? A dog over 1 who is known to be calm, has been tested with children and can cope with a busy environment yes a young puppy no way!

I'd be worried about the puppy's welfare tbh. Not a good environment for them.

Definitely a bad idea! Our puppy goes BONKERS if he's over-tired or over-stimulated. Generally he's well behaved but if he needs to sleep he gets bitey and very mischievous. Fine for us at home but not great if he's around children.

It's a therapy dog who will be working with children with SEN, and will be living with the headmistress.

I think it's a good idea.

He's training to be a therapy dog. He'll be thoroughly trained to be bomb proof - that's part of his role.

It's a trained therapy dog, not a galloot of a puppy wandering about the school. Read the article ffs!

He will embark on a strict two-year training programme to become a therapy dog, and the whole idea is that the pupils will help with this training

He’s not a therapy dog, the plan is to train him to be one. A trained therapy dog would be a great idea- bringing in a young puppy and expecting it to become a therapy dog isn’t a good idea.

The Headmistress wants a dog. Provided the dog isn't over-exposed to the children, I can't see an issue.

It's a trained therapy dog, not a galloot of a puppy wandering about the school. Read the article ffs!

No it's not. It's a puppy in training! Before telling other people to read the article, how about you read the article?

Cunning way for The Head to get out of paying for doggy daycare ifyiu ask me!
Our Ddog is 2 and is fine with children, although he has knocked a few over by accident. As a puppy he was a terror and even “doctor Doolittle” dd wasn’t keen on him at times
Getting a fully trained PAT dog to visit regularly is a good idea but a school puppy not so much

Sounds like the head wanted a dog but didn’t want to leave it at home all day and came up with this idea. Isn’t this similar to a guide dog, where there is no knowing if the dog will even achieve the training levels? Good luck with the nipping tiny puppy and teething stage.

Excellent idea. That can be very beneficial for SEN kids. The puppy HAS to start with kids because that’s how it learns.

I’ve worked with disabled kids and the dogs and they are brilliant.

If you really think the school and those responsible for training the dog have gone into this in total ignorance, you're in the realms of fantasy. Seems an excellent idea to me.

Good point mummy around 20% of guide dogs are unsuitable can’t be used as such
There’s no guarantee this puppy will grow up to be a good therapy dog even with the right training - then what?

All very well until the puppy bites one of the kids. Who is liable then? I would have thought get the puppy trained first before exposing it to SN children who may not understand how to treat a puppy.

Meh he'll live with the headmistress he must have been chosen as a dog suitable for a therapy dog and he's not exactly going to be roaming around the school unsupervised.

I'm concerned that the puppy is being regarded like a hamster or fish or something. It is not. It is an intelligent dog-to-be.
A school cannot give a pup the stable home life it needs. I'd call the RSPCA.
By the way, pups Bite bite bite endlessly.....it's what they do.

Presumably he wouldn't just wander freely around the school all day. It sounds as if he'll come in now and again.

Wonder if this is the same school as in a thread from a few weeks ago where the puppy was from.a.back yard breeder.

Im.well behind therapy dogs dd has been part of the "read to a dog" scheme.

However a puppy is not the best idea. Has it been vaccinated or health checked etc do schools have money for her bills and training?

There's no money for books let alone hundreds of pounds for puppies that might not even make the grade.

The article doesn't say anything about costs. I also think the head found a clever way of getting herself a dog paid for and trained. From my research into doing Pets as Therapy with my lab, it was for free, not paid - there must be cheaper ways of doing this. And what happens when this young headmistress decides to change schools? Does the dog leave her or the school?? From my experience, a lot of heads don't teach either, so why train her to handle the dog? It would take her away from what the head does. It would have made more sense for the special needs teacher to have the dog... I very much like the idea of a dog helping children, but am very sceptical about this one.

Poor little puppy.

I hope they are careful with exposure to too many children too soon.

I don’t mean to point out the obvious but you do all realise that all therapy dogs started out as puppies, right?

And they are trained from puppies, not just plucked out randomly and given the title as Therapy Dog....

My little brother's teacher had a class dog (not a puppy!).

It was apparently pretty great. But I wonder what they'd do if a child was allergic?

It could be good of the puppy is trained well.

My dd has ASD and adores dogs. We would never have one at home but she'd love to have contact with one at school and it would calm her down.

DD's school has various dogs - they help out loads especially for students with SEN.

One of our local schools has a dog. It's a small school - two classrooms and around 50 kids. It wanders around, plays with the kids, is company for the anxious/lonely/sad kids sometimes. It goes home at night with a teacher.

It makes for a lovely homely feel, I always think.