For students who are extremely introverted or have mental illnesses, sitting through an eight hour school day can be agony. Many people sit through the last few hours of class praying for an end to the monotony and stress. There’s no perfect solution to end this school-day anxiety, but one Iowa school has come up with something rather innovative.
Mulberry Elementary School in Muscatine, Iowa recently got a therapy dog. Finley, a labradoodle puppy, lives with teachers in between school hours.
During school hours, he provides love and friendship to students he meets in the hallways. Any student suffering from stress can visit Finley in the principal’s office. He even interrupts classes just to say “hi” to the young kids throughout the day.
Finley is also being used to help children with behavioral issues by providing a reward for being good. Students who comply with the rules and are nice to other kids are allowed to help with a little bit of Finley’s training, like teaching him to sit, speak, or lie down. Lindsay Welsch, Finley’s trainer, said, “These kids see him in the hallway and they tell their friends ‘um, I’m one of Finley’s trainers too.'” (Source)
Finley has been great for the self-esteem and the care of the kids at Mulberry Elementary. In general, students exposed to him have less stress, behavioral issues, and homesickness. If Finley was an experiment, he would be a very successful one. That begs the question (pun not intended), should other schools try therapy dogs as well?
While a therapy dog wouldn’t help kids with animal allergies, fans of furry friends would certainly benefit from getting to pet a puppy every once in awhile. Finley is being used to help elementary school students, but even high schoolers who suffer from anxiety or depression could enjoy spending time with a therapy dog. Plus, being relaxed helps one learn more easily. According to a study conducted by the California Institute of Technology and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, human brains have an easier time remembering and interpreting information if they are in a calm, comfortable state.
Once again, no solution is perfect, but giving schools therapy dogs seems like a pretty amazing (and relatively low-budget) way to fight mental illness and stress. If students learn better and behave better when in a calm state of mind, a puppy may be the perfect way to achieve that state of mind.
