Therapy dog. Not a service dog and not a common household pet, but somewhere in between. They can be seen in schools, hospitals, dentists offices and more. Two years ago the Bryant School District received their first ever therapy dog, Archie.
Bryant High Schools principal, Jason Hay, is the owner of Archie and worked with trainers to prepare him for working in schools.
“As soon as he was old enough to start training we started putting him through AKC,” Hay said.
The AKC, or American Kennel Club, is where Archie went through obedience training. After graduating AKC he was put through tests to see if he had the intellectual aptitude to make it through therapy training.
”It can’t just be any dog,” Hay said. “They’ve got to have good temperament.”
Through the testing process many dogs failed, but Archie was able to make it to the finish.
”I really thought it would be easier but there were several dogs that failed […] that looked perfectly fine,” Hay said.
Once Archie had passed the aptitude tests he was then able to continue training.
”He then went into therapy training to get him certified just to be able to bring him to school,” Hay said. “That’s been our goal.”
Archie can be seen walking around the high school campus on Wednesday’s and visiting classes. Sometimes you can even catch him doing tricks.
“He’ll do normal dog tricks: fetch, sit, lie, he’ll turn around,” Hay said. “He can do several things, but you know, his greatest trick is just making people happy.”
Studies by the AKC show that dogs help to “reduce stress and anxiety” and are valuable in the way they can ease feelings of loneliness and depression. Senior Jayden Floyd agreed with these facts.
“It’s something we can all look forward to,” Floyd said. “Dogs just help with stress and calm people down.”
Bryant students have said they love the idea of a school therapy dog, but some students, such as sophomore Mattie Fuller, wish he could be seen more.
”I saw him at the junior high more,” Fuller said. “I miss seeing him more but I’m sure he’s doing whatever he needs to do.”
But this lack of doggie love will soon be solved as Hay plans on bringing another dog into the picture.
”His brother is named Cash,” Hay said. “But he’s actually going through his training right now and we’ll be able to bring him up – hopefully by the first of the year.”
Whether it’s Archie, Cash or another dog, the high school will welcome all its furry friends and as time moves on maybe each school in the district will get its own companion.
