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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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?

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

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.

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?

I am really surprised that school health and safety policies allow this.

Apart from.the obvious safety risks of the dogs turning on a child and biting, or defecating or weeing in the classroom, and allergies and phobias I just cant understand how the distraction of having dogs in the classroom is good for children's academic learning.

It all seems part of the increasing attitude in society that dogs are more important than people. And allowing dogs in thf classroom is just teaching the children that dogs have a right to be anywhere and every where.

Quite.

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

Insurance generally covers negligence or fault, so unless the policy specifically excludes it, it would be covered… However, as I wrote before, insurance is a red herring here….

If a child is at risk of a serious injury that would trigger a claim, having insurance claim doesn’t suddenly make that risk acceptable….

Does anyone seriously say to themselves, “there’s a risk that my child might get attacked by a dog, but as long as there’s insurance in place to ensure I get a pay out if my child gets attacked, I’m ok with my child being exposed to that risk.”? Of course not, or at least, I hope not!

And someone with the blaze attitude that some posters have on here could easily contrive a risk assessment that deems the risk to be acceptable.

My family member teaches in a school where the head of governors kept coming in with his sausage dog - it bit the PE teacher and he needed stitches! Next day, sausage dog at school. This sounds like such a lie but I swear it isn’t!

Trained dogs for specific activities or support needs - yes
Risk assessed visits (by a teacher’s dog or other) for a planned activity - yes

Teacher’s own dog hanging out in a classroom full of 4yo - no way

Where is the risk assessment? What is the ofsted view about having the teacher not fully able to focus on her 30 children? Who is supervising the children when the dogs are (presumably) taken out to toilet?

This country needs to get a grip.

Sounds like the teacher is too tight to pay for someone to train her animal to be left, or to go to a dog sitter.

Completely inappropriate.

One of my teachers in primary school used to bring her Scottie dog - it would sit under her desk in lessons and sleep and she’d walk it round the playground at breaks.

Not normal, a) allergies b) potential for kids to pester or dog to bite and c) teacher distracted from teaching by dogs needs.

I think mostly parents should let teachers get on with things, but this would be a hard refusal for me and I would have no interest in 'working something out' that involves my child with two dogs in the permanent background by definition insufficiently supervised.

She is taking the piss completely.

It's not unheard of for a staff member to bring their dog into school. The school I previously worked at, the head of the Trust, used to bring her dog to school. The difference being, the dog stayed in her office the majority of the time.

However, this is a class teacher, who is there to teach the children, not to supervise 2 dogs!! Are these dogs coming into school every day? Or is this an occasional visit? Is it a new thing for this teacher to be bringing her dogs into school? I understand teaching children how to look after animals, how to stroke them etc, it's all positive....but should this be on a daily basis. What if a child is allergic? Or a family member is at home, it's easy to pick up dog hairs, and transport them home?

You could ask more questions. Are the dogs insured to be on the premises? Has a risk assessment been done? How will the dogs be supervised in class, if the teacher is teaching?!! None of which are invalid questions.

I think you need to wait and see what it’s like. Presumably she has permission. Maybe the dog just sleeps most of the time. As a dog owner and teacher it’s not a liability I’d want. My dog is not a school resource. But there are studies on the benefits of having a dog in the classroom.