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USD 415 Board Agrees to Continue with Therapy Dog

By Greg Bebermeyer

12/11/2012

( KNZA )-A pet therapy dog will continue to be utilized at the Hiawatha Elementary School.

The board of education Monday evening unanimously approved continuing the program through the end of the current school year, when it will be evaluated again.

The board voted in October to allow elementary school speech pathologist Tammy Chase to bring her specially trained 4-year-old golden retriever, Ronny, to the school to work with students, and to evaluate its effectiveness at the end of the semester.

Superintendent Penny Hargrove says the program has been a hugh success.

Ronny was trained through the non-profit organization Domesti-PUPS as a therapy dog who works within the school setting to help students develop self-esteem, responsibility, motivation, self discipline and communication skills.

Through their research, the Domesti-PUPS organization has found that children are more at ease reading out loud to a friendly dog than another person and children are able to focus better on an activity or discussion when an animal is present.

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