School Dog

[Diegomolly1]

Any pros and cons for a school dog please?

I can only think of pros, really. DS school have a literacy dog - the boys read to him and absolutely love it. The dog obviously needs looking after, so a teacher would need to commit to keeping the dog and training him. It would also have to be a very gentle and patient animal that is perfectly safe to have around children, e.g. a retired guide dog. It's a great tragedy when a school dog dies, though.

I can only think of pros but you would need to do a lot of research. There’s allergies and insurance to consider, and what happens to the dog if it doesn’t work out.

What about kids who are scared of dogs? Yes a school dog might help them long term but that will probably take a fair amount of intervention, and in the meantime you have children who are possibly disrupting classes/sitting in fear, becuase they are scared of the dog. (I would have been one of those children between the ages of 6 and 10, having been bitten as a child. A dog in school would have been nightmarish for me)

This reports the benefits from one secondary school. www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/28/teaching-support-dog-school-teach-read
You can see a notice was up when the dog was around.

I used to go into a primary school which had a school dog. It actually belonged to one of the teaching assistants and would go in a couple of times a week and was well supervised. It had a starring role in the school play.

We have a little school dog. We are a special school and the children adore her. She is a Cavapoo and although she is just 2 she is calm and gentle. We had Ofsted recently and the Inspector was very impressed with how she helps calm our children.

We haven't, as yet, had any children who are allergic but we have had a member of staff who is apparently terribly allergic to dogs but he is fine with our school dog.

Also meant to say our school dog stays in the office and the children come to her so there is no problem for any children who are scared of dogs. We have had a few children who are nervous and they have been introduced to the school dog very slowly and at their own pace.

We have had a school dog in one day a week for about a year. It has been incredibly positive in allowing pupils both with and without SEN to access talking and petting of the dog whilst carrying out school work. In effect the dog becomes the virtual teacher.
We have also had a number of pupils who had a real fear of dogs who are now very happy around dogs, to the extent that one nervous parent is now buying a dog for the family.
If handled well this can only be a positive in my eyes.