WLE Has Exciting News!
08/23/2020
WALLED LAKE ELEMENTARY RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR A THERAPY DOG!
We are so excited to share the news of this amazing opportunity with our community! Research has shown that therapy dogs within a school setting not only enhance skills such as reading, but also improve emotional development. Just the presence of a therapy dog can decrease anxiety and enable students to work through issues such as anger management and other social difficulties. Introducing a non-threatening therapy dog into our school will be a key tool for forming social interactions for many of our students. Reading skills are often associated with improved academic performance and positive attitudes about school in children. Researchers found that animal-assisted intervention in the form of reading aloud to a dog in a classroom setting contributes to improved skills and attitudes. There are so many benefits for a school to have its own therapy dog! We have been fortunate to witness these benefits at Mary Helen Guest Elementary and Walled Lake Western High School. Both schools have very successful therapy dog programs.
Our dog will be a purebred lab, bred specifically to be a therapy dog in schools. Our puppy has not yet been born and will need 12-18 months of training before it will be ready to fully join Walled Lake Elementary. In the meantime, we will have many things to prepare. One way in which we can prepare is to find out which of our students may have a fear of dogs or an allergy to dogs. Please fill out this brief survey if your child has a fear of or is allergic to dogs. We will work with you and your child ahead of time to create a plan to address allergies or fears.
We are also seeking vendors who may be interested in donating the following services in exchange for having their business’s name on the dog’s vest:
- Groomer- monthly
- Veterinarian Services
- Dog Food- $50 every two months
If you or somebody you know might be interested in providing one of these services, please contact VictoriaFifer@wlcsd.org, WLE Therapy Dog Handler.
We hope you are as excited as we are for the newest addition to Walled Lake Elementary. We will share more about the therapy dog program with you as we move through this journey. In the meantime, if you have questions please reach out to Julie Amann, WLE Principal, or Victoria Fifer, WLE Therapy Dog Handler. We have a little bit of time before our therapy dog arrives, but it will be worth the wait!