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Calming canine

Therapy dog is newest member of MES family

Staff writer

Often the most difficult part of an elementary school guidance counselors’ job is calming down a student from an intense emotion, whether it be anger or sadness, to get to the root of the trauma and find a solution.

“I have students write,” MES counselor Kris Burkholder said. “I have some listen to calming music or do a physical activity to calm down before we discuss what happened. Ever since I’ve had Halo, she’s calmed them down.”

A young girl burst into Burkholder’s office upset, crying emphatically after someone had slighted her on the school playground. Burkholder asked her what was wrong and tried to calm her down.

That’s when the school’s therapy dog in training, Halo, emerged from her kennel after taking a nap. Without any prompting, she laid her head on the student’s lap. The girl deliberately stroked the black lab puppy’s head and the student gradually became docile.

Burkholder was able to ask the girl what happened and work through the problem.

“It just calmed her to pet Halo,” Burkholder said.

Burkholder was looking to enlist a therapy dog for four years, dating back to when she was working as a counselor in Herington. She thought the benefit of the calming influence of a dog outweighed the distraction it could present to young students.

To learn about therapy dogs, she shadowed White City counselor Cindy Gant and her labradoodle. She followed other counselors with therapy dogs in Wichita.

Through that time, Burkholder was looking for a chance to bring a dog to MES. USD 408 already had a policy in place for therapy dogs.

The opportunity presented itself with a litter of puppies at Cindy Ragland’s kennel at Flint Hills Retrievers.

Ragland primarily raises Labrador retrievers as hunting dogs. The skills of obedience, loyalty, and patience are important for hunting dogs, but therapy dogs need those characteristics plus an innate gentleness.

Ragland has only had two dogs at her kennel that possessed the qualities of therapy dogs: Halo and Halo’s aunt Belle.

Belle works with Ragland at Opportunity, Achievement, and Survival in Society an alternative day school program in the Marion County Special Education Cooperative Building in Marion. OASIS is a program that specializes in working with students that struggle with anger and stress.

Belle lives with Jim and Joni Crofoot.

“When they go home they’re a regular dog,” Ragland said. “When I put the collar on, it’s like putting a uniform on. She’s going to work.”

Belle is full-grown at approximately 80 pounds, and has developed her skills as a therapy dog.

Ragland and Belle will begin in the back of an OASIS class. Never leashed, Belle will sense students who are hiding problems at home or school. She will then nudge their elbow and present her head for solace.

“All dogs have intuition,” Ragland said. “I just don’t think you can train that.”

OASIS teacher Melissa Ziemmermann said Belle’s ability to notice students having a bad day clues them into work that needs to be done with a student.

Belle is also an incentive for students to behave and a method to calm students during bouts of anger or stress.

“We have some pretty challenging kids,” Ziemmermann said. “Even with some of the high school students it works.”

Students will take Belle for a walk after getting upset at another student or a teacher. Zieammermann said when students will not express themselves to a teacher, Belle provides them an outlet. They can walk Belle around the building and release that frustration.

Students at OASIS gain points for good behavior and the points can be used to purchase items. One of the items is treats for Belle. Students can also work toward earning walks and other activities with Bell.

Zieammmermann said Belle has a special bond with foster students because of her consistency.

“As consistent as staff try to be we’re human,” she said. “They always notice when she’s gone.”

The same traits that Ragland noticed in Belle she immediately witnessed with Halo. She saw a gentleness and trainability in the puppy that were necessary. She immediately started her on simple obedience training and introducing Halo to different indoor environments.

Ragland approached Burkholder about the dog and the MES guidance counselor jumped at a chance to have a therapy dog at MES.

Burkholder named Halo for her saint-like patience. A staff member who bought a puppy from the same litter was amazed at the calm temperament of the dog.

“Everyone is like, ‘I can’t believe she’s a puppy,’” Burkholder said. “She’s so gentle.”

But the four-month old black lab puppy is still in training. She goes to obedience training every Tuesday in Valley Center. She will eventually receive therapy dog training and can be certified at a year old.

Her training also extends to her time at MES. Burkholder has used exercises where she has Halo calmly sit and watch students file down the hallway, keeping her from approaching them for attention.

Halo is like a new student at MES, if the new student were immediately popular. She garners attention from students and staff alike. Long days at the elementary school full of attention can tire Halo, often when she is in Burkholder’s office she reclines on a sloping chair and dozes.

Burkholder has become attached to Halo since they started working together this past September. She was initially worried how she and Halo would interact but recently said Halo is her counseling. Burkholder tries to give the dog other chances throughout the day to be a normal puppy.

“Sometimes I do kind of feel like I’m mean,” Burkholder said. “We have to be firm. When she’s in my office we’ll play.”

The firm training has paid off already. Two boys who routinely have trouble controlling their anger have come into Burkholder’s office and pet Halo to de-escalate.

“The kids will sit right in that chair and she’ll crawl right into their laps” Burkholder said.

Halo has yet to develop her intuition. Burkholder hopes that she will eventually be able to pick out children on the playground who may feel lonely.

MES Title I teacher Shannon Cooper has also expressed interest in using Halo as a reading dog. Students struggling to read can use a dog as a subject. Bell is a reading dog at OASIS and has served the same roll at MES.

“There’s no intimidation,” Ragland said. “A dog is non-judgmental.”

Halo has already had unseen benefits. One MES boy was dreadfully afraid of dogs before Halo entered the MES world. Burkholder talked to the students parents and they thought Halo could be used to conquer the student’s fear.

From then on, Burkholder was conscious of the situation and kept Halo on a leash around the student’s class. As time passed, the student started to let go of his fear.

On Sept. 23, the student approached Burkholder and asked if he could pet Halo.

“He knows Halo won’t hurt him,” Burkholder said. “He’s learning to trust.”

Last modified Oct. 7, 2010

 

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