Primary School Is A Dog's Life

[Mila's Mum]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/...-is-a-dogs-life

Like many primary school pupils Cooper Carter did not want to get out of bed this morning. Unlike most pupils, Cooper is a dog.

The 14-month-old bichon shih tzu, who is eight in human years, became an Oceanview Heights pupil three weeks ago, after the room 6 (Year 7-8) class approached the board to change the no dogs at school policy with the help of their teacher and Cooper's owner, Janice Carter.

"At the end of last year as part of a treat the class got to have Cooper at school. I noticed at the end of the day the children were calmer and working together well to look after him and those that didn't normally talk much had really come out of their shells."

The class was doing a debate and got to choose a topic and opted for "Should Cooper be the school dog?"

"No one wanted to be on the opposing side, so they had to be nominated and ended up pointing out he could not be because the school policy did not allow dogs," Mrs Cooper said.

"After more discussion we decided to go through all the right channels to allow him to be here and the principal went to the board on the class's behalf."

Cooper was given the go-ahead so Mrs Carter and a parent made him a uniform and he was off to school.

"He is a late sleeper and does not like getting up early and stretches and yawns. When he sees me go to leave, though, he sits by the door expectantly and my daughter puts him in his uniform."

Each week the nominated king and queen of the class look after Cooper during the breaks. The class has signed the Cooper Carter Charter which includes a rule that if Cooper does his business in the school play area the pupils put a cone over it until it is cleaned up.

"He is always on his lead but it is a huge responsibility to look after Cooper."

Quintin Miller, 12, said Cooper was an asset to the school. "He is not only a mascot, but he is also an inspiration to room 6 and Oceanview Heights."

Matt Ritchie, 12, liked to look after Cooper.

"You have to give him lots of food and lots of people want to look after him."

Cooper confirmed he was happy with being at school but sometimes got tired out by the curriculum and needed to go to his basket for a nap.

- The Timaru Herald

[Ambrosia]

What a lovely initiative. We had a class pet turtle in primary school, it gave me a greater appreciation for turtles.

I love their charter

[Katie P]

Cute! Hopefully will assist in educating kids how to act around dogs and animals

[LizT]

I've heard of a number of schools now that have a "school dog" that attends various classes. Generally it does tend to help settle a class, provided the dog is there as a regular and not random visitor. Also imperative that the teacher in charge is knowlegable about children with dogs, it's fine in principle but it could also easily go "pearshaped" depending on the true suitability of the dog brought in. No-one has really "vetted" or tested the animals suitability to this task. Perhaps also a little self indugent for the teacher/owner.

[Linda K]

what a great thing. Our school has a deaf facility,. and one of the teachers there was also looking after a guide dog puppy, so it would come to school to do the puppy training, and also got to go to the diferent classes, which gave the kids a chance to have the dog in the class, but also to learn to respect the dog when he was in his training harness, but also look after him with getting water etc - was very good for them, and the whole school was sad (but happy proud), when he went off to be a guide dog

[mona]

What a lovely story - lucky kids

[Leelaa17]

What a great story!

When I was in primary school we were able to bring in our dogs for show and tell (which I did) which was so fantastic! All the kids enjoyed it and it seemed to break down the barriers of 'groups' - I was the bullied kid but when my dogs went in it didn't matter because there were cute fluffy things there!

I think it is a great initiative (especially now that some schools are actually putting in a 'no dog' policy so dogs aren't even allowed on the grounds).

It's also good because (as previous posts have said) the kids are able to learn how to treat dogs and how to behave with them (to an extent of course) which gives them more knowledge about the animal and hopefully more respect for the animal - especially if they don't or aren't allowed to have a dog.

Great story! Very cute!

[poodlefan]

Each week the nominated king and queen of the class look after Cooper during the breaks. The class has signed the Cooper Carter Charter which includes a rule that if Cooper does his business in the school play area the pupils put a cone over it until it is cleaned up.

Surely year 7 and 8 kids could learn to clean it up themselves.. a good lesson to learn at their age.

Even a pre-schooler can learn to use a pooper scooper.

Edited March 30, 2011 by poodlefan

[Leelaa17]

Each week the nominated king and queen of the class look after Cooper during the breaks. The class has signed the Cooper Carter Charter which includes a rule that if Cooper does his business in the school play area the pupils put a cone over it until it is cleaned up.

Surely year 7 and 8 kids could learn to clean it up themselves.. a good lesson to learn at their age.

Even a pre-schooler can learn to use a pooper scooper.

lol i agree - although maybe its some sort of OH&S issue? I dunno.

[poodlefan]

Each week the nominated king and queen of the class look after Cooper during the breaks. The class has signed the Cooper Carter Charter which includes a rule that if Cooper does his business in the school play area the pupils put a cone over it until it is cleaned up.

Surely year 7 and 8 kids could learn to clean it up themselves.. a good lesson to learn at their age.

Even a pre-schooler can learn to use a pooper scooper.

lol i agree - although maybe its some sort of OH&S issue? I dunno.

If parents were worried about little Johnny or Suzy being within a metre of dog poo, they could opt out of the system.

I wonder how the pet hair allergy issue works out.

[Kissindra]

love it - I think there are many schools that could benefit from a suitably trained poochy presence.

Ours has a no dog policy, we have a couple of students with severe phobias relating to dogs so they wont be changing it any time soon but it would be lovely if there was some animal presence.

I read of a school which helped raise a litter of rescue pups, another who helped with rescue kittens - worked beautifully and taught the kids some valuable lessons on being a responsible owner.

[Katie P]

I have actually taken Chase to a school with primary kids quite a few times, who have moderate to servere disabilities. He was perfect and very good with the kids. He is very tolerant and doesn't react to roughness, which I know does hurt momentarily.

The autistic kids love rubbing their heads on his back and it is a positive 'feeling' experience (they are very sensory orientated some of them). They are learning how to interact (some of them) with animals and not be too rough etc. Other find him very calming and he provides to be a good educational tool (how many legs does he have etc) and they are encouraged to ask me questions (learning to interact in 'social' environments).

In terms of temperament testing.....none was done on us. I was very confident with Chase's temperament and numerous interactions with children, that he would be fine.

[dezzyno.1]

i have taken Dezzy to the local Specialist School for show and tell (as my son is a student)...the kids were taught how to approach a dog and to ask the owner.....after the show and tell we were leaving and it took us two hours to get out of the school because every class room we walked past we had to go in so the kids could say hi....I have no worries about Dezzy and kids as he loves them (he is also a Delta Pet Therapy dog). I take both my dogs to pick up the kids and just recently an autistic boy who doesn't talk walked up to Jessie and said hi jessie and started patting her.....going into nursing homes u see great things with the residents especially the ones who wont talk and they talk to the dogs...i also know of dogs who go into the classrooms around this area for kids to read to....many benefits of having a pet in a classroom

[mita]

I love his school uniform. Interesting that the teacher says the children are calmer with the dog in the room.

One of the sheltie breeders, years ago, was also a high school teacher. She used to take a sheltie with her. It was in the days before rules about no dogs. She said the same, especially about how the horde of adolescents would leave the room. With the dog in the room, they automatically were quieter, less rushed & made less noise generally.