Teacher’s dogs in classroom?

[Sunnyday14558]

Our son starts school in September. We had a meeting this evening with the new class teacher and fellow parents and the teacher dropped on that she has two sausage dogs. She said she brings one into class and is going to bring the second into class next week and ‘hopes he gets on with the kids’. All the fellow parents made a lot of ‘awww’ sounds but honestly I was a bit surprised.
is this normal in schools? She also said that if any parents were uncomfortable she’d try and work something out. I’m nervous around dogs but mostly because I have a four year old boy who doesn’t have experience being around them. I feel in an awkward situation where I don’t want to be ‘that’ parent if I say I’m not happy but equally, maybe it’s ok? So confused

Are you in the Uk? This seems incredibly unlikely. Maybe it’s some weird private school though?

Yeah - not normal.

As much as it’s a lovely thought tbh for someone who loves dogs, this teacher is taking a hell of a risk there

I know of two schools where there is a dog that belongs to a staff member and comes in every day. i'd love it.

I have a four year old boy who doesn’t have experience being around them Sounds like an excellent opportunity to remedy that lack of experience.

Who has decided that 2 dogs are appropriate in a classroom?

One of my primary teachers in the 80s used to bring her two dogs in everyday, absolutely a highlight of my early education years! But yes, surprised to hear it happening now - unless it’s in some sort of PAT scenario?

This is becoming so insidious in schools. Teachers bringing in their pets and saying they help with well-being and regulation. No recognition of allergies, fears or even plain old autonomy of choice not to be around animals.

The problem is half the parents will have dogs and see no problem but if you, or your child doesn’t want it for any reason the power dynamic is not in your favour.

As if dogs weren’t everywhere already…🙄

It’s not about those who would unquestionably ‘love it’, it’s about those who don’t want it and don’t feel it’s appropriate or professional. What options do they have?

When I was college doing ALevels 20+ years ago the Head of Psychology had a dog she’d bring into college & we’d often have lessons with her in the classroom, but she’d try to keep her in the office as she (Kizzy) was a major distraction to us teenage girls.
At our DCs primary school the preschool teacher sometimes brings her dog in, but not every day.
There is also the therapy dog at the local secondary school, but they tend to stay in The Hub, not a classroom.
So I’d say dogs in school aren’t super unusual but having two in reception every day would be & opens up whole issues are allergies & fears/phobias.

One of our teachers used to bring in her snake. A ball python. She used to let us hold her at lunchtime. She was very docile and tame.

If your son has no experience with dogs, this will be good for him. Better than passing on your fear to him.

I hate being confronted with dogs in restaurants and cafes and food shops. But I actually think they’re quite nice to encounter in a school. (Obviously assuming non-aggressive, well trained and relatively clean dogs.) Aren’t they regularly being introduced into community environments to provide stress relief and fun? Hospitals, care homes, school boarding houses, etc?

I definitely don’t think a four year old should be discouraged from learning how to interact with a gentle, friendly dog in a supervised setting purely because their parent is uncomfortable around dogs.

Both my child's primary and secondary schools have had a 'school dog' belonging to a teacher.

The head of my daughters school has a dog, it's a trained therapy dog. Only in classrooms for short periods for specific reasons, otherwise its in her office.

I think that's very different to a teachers dog being in classroom all the time.

Let's not pretend she's doing it for the wellbeing of the kids, she just can't be bothered to pay for a dog walker.

I'd be saying something. It's not appropriate.

Yes I am and it’s a completely regular government primary school

I’m really surprised! I do think it sounds positive for the kids though, learning how to behave around well behaved dogs is a good thing. But I do also think it’s nuts that a school would allow this, there are so many variables that could make it a problem

Dashunds are notoriously stubborn dogs to train and can be quite vocal, I’d be surprised if any school allowed this. I’ve known schools to have therapy dogs brought in but not every day. Ask to see the risk assessments for the dogs to be in class, I’m a huge dog lover but wouldn’t be happy with this, if the teacher needs dog day care she should be paying for it instead of expecting to to bring her pets in, can you imagine if every teacher brought their dogs into school? It would be carnage and have the potential to disrupt learning. School is a learning establishment, it’s not crufts!

I don't like this at all. Fine to have an occasional visit from a dog e.g. assistance dog, dog charity, but asides from potential allergies/bites, surely it would be a major distraction to have dogs in the classroom - the children are there to learn, not to participate in their teacher's lifestyle choices.

Was it in the classroom? My concern is it’s a small space with 30 kids and two members of staff. I can’t imagine how they’ll keep an eye on all those kids and a dog. It just seems risky to me

I think this is how I feel about it. I’ve chosen a school and wasn’t asked if I had an issue with dogs being in the classroom. It was never mentioned and we’ve been allocated one of three classes (the other two don’t have dogs).

Its not unusual, I work in secondary schools, lots of them and see various dogs belonging to staff in all the time.

At first I thought it’s probably ok because they’re small but I’ve just been reading about how they can be quite aggressive. My cousin’s otherwise lovely dog was a terrier and went for me when I was about 11 because I grabbed a stick it wanted. I just worry four year olds can be quite loud and impulsive and it could put a young dog on edge

Yeah, if it were an activity, like come and pat the dog and say hi I’d have less of an issue. It’s just the idea it’s an ongoing thing. The fact one dog hasn’t been around kids yet and obvs isn’t professionally trained bothers me so much

Secondary school seems different to me though. My son is just 4.

You should deff get in contact with the head, there may be plans in place to keep the kids safe, or it may be enough for the head to say no to the teacher. Nothing wrong with raising concerns though!