‘Paws-itive’ therapy: California Area School District brings therapy dogs into classrooms
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Therapy dogs offer comfort, support and unconditional love to California Area elementary students, who love when the pooches drop into classrooms for a visit. On a recent weekday, Easton Typovsky buries his face in therapy dog Lucy’s soft coat.
California Area School District's therapy dogs Lucy, left, and Charlie are besties who spend weekends zooming around the dog park and have attended conferences together with their humans, Cathy Schmider, elementary guidance counselor, and Josh Pollock, high school principal. When the dogs don their official vests, Schmider and Pollock said, they know it's time to work.
Sure, they're sweet, lovable pups, but when California Area School District's therapy dogs are on campus, they're at work. Cathy Schmider said Lucy knows it's time to get serious when she dons her vest, complete with an official school badge.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Second-grader Julius Smith shares a sweet moment with Lucy, one of CASD’s 10 therapy dogs, on a recent weekday morning.
Elementary guidance counselor Cathy Schmider was pleasantly surprised when her Lucy, a young, energetic Golden retriever, successfully completed therapy dog training through Off Leash K9. Lucy is beloved at CASD and, along with her nine four-legged co-workers, helps students and staff deal with mental and emotional issues during the school day.
Charlie revels in giving and receiving love to California Area students and staff, who turn to the therapy dog for support, acceptance and help. Charlie, who belongs to high school principal Josh Pollock, center right, was CASD's first therapy dog.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Charlie greets second-grade teacher Susan Bitonti with a kiss while his owner, high school principal Josh Pollock, looks on. Bitonti also has a therapy dog, Bocci, who is Charlie’s brother.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
After receiving a slobbery greeting from Lucy the therapy dog, second-grader Alexander Kent laughs and leans back. Lucy and other therapy dogs help California Area students and staff handle mental and emotional struggles in school.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
When CASD’s therapy dogs drop into a classroom, students’ faces erupt in smiles as the pooch on duty takes center stage. Here, Susan Bitonti’s second-graders Kayleigh Masaitis, Madilyn Furlong, Aubrey Guth and Alexander Augustine shower Lucy with pats and love.
On a recent Tuesday morning, students in Susan Bitonti’s second-grade classroom at California Area Elementary School excitedly gathered around two of the school district’s therapy dogs, Charlie, a black Labrador retriever, and Lucy, a golden retriever, who happily welcomed the children’s affectionate pats and embraces.
“Can you get us a hundred dogs?” one boy asked high school principal Josh Pollock, Charlie’s human and handler.
Exclaimed another student as she stroked Lucy’s blonde coat and velvety-soft ears, “This is the best day of my life.”
Charlie and Lucy are two of 10 therapy dogs – among them are Superintendent Dr. Laura Jacob’s two Airedale terriers, Kona and Londy – working at the elementary and high schools.
California Area is among a growing number of school districts turning to dogs as a strategy to help students and staff handle mental and emotional struggles and stress in school.
“It’s awesome, it really is. It’s had such a positive impact. The students just love it, and we love it too,” said Bitonti, whose black Lab, Bocci (Charlie’s sibling), also serves as a therapy dog.
It was Pollock, who is working on his doctoral dissertation on animal-assisted interventions, who introduced the idea of a therapy dog program to Jacob. After board approval, it launched in January 2022 with Charlie serving as the first “four-legged therapist.”
“Immediately, I started seeing a difference in the students,” said Pollock. “I started noticing those kids I didn’t have (in class) were approaching me more often in the hallways, and wanted to stop and talk – of course, they talked to Charlie first – and I was able to say, ‘How’s your day going?’ I’ve had intellectually disabled kids struggling with their emotions to get through the day who come to the office and play with him. I’ve had boyfriends and girlfriends who had broken up or been in a fight, and are crying, and then they start playing with Charlie.”
Research shows, Pollock noted, that having a therapy dog in a school environment can help reduce stress and anxiety while increasing student achievement and attendance and influencing positive behavior.
The district’s therapy dogs – all owned by district teachers, administrators or staff members – underwent extensive eight-week obedience and distraction training at Off Leash K9 Training in North Strabane Township to earn their certification.
“Since the pandemic, I’m seeing more interest in therapy dogs in school districts all throughout the Pittsburgh area. The use of therapy dogs in general, at hospitals, nursing homes and other settings, has exploded,” said Lyn Trapuzzano, owner of K9 Off Leash Training.
Elementary school guidance counselor Cathy Schmider, who is Lucy’s human, said students spend time with the dogs for a variety of reasons. The dogs have de-escalated tantrums. They have served as incentive for good behavior and academic achievement. They have comforted children after the death of a loved one or a pet. They’ve cheered kids having down-in-the-dumps days.
“Oftentimes, I’ll have kids who aren’t getting along and we’ll do mediation. Lucy’s a nice focal point for them; instead of yelling at each other, they start petting Lucy and forget that they were mad at each other,” said Schmider.
Jacob said the school district wanted to have at least 10 certified therapy dogs so that there could be a dog at both buildings every day.
“You can’t predict a crisis, you can’t predict a student meltdown, you don’t know what day that’s going to occur, so we always want to guarantee we have a dog available in the building,” she said.
Therapy dogs aren’t service dogs. A therapy dog volunteers in a setting such as a school, hospital, or nursing home to provide comfort and affection. Service dogs are trained to perform specific life-saving tasks and to work with people with disabilities.
Charlie is on-site at the high school two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he’s a calming presence, cuddle buddy and friendly face for teenagers.
“You’d think the older kids wouldn’t respond the way younger children do, but they do, just as much,” said Pollock. “They love animals just as much and they show it just as much. They talk to the dogs in baby voices and they let out their emotions, and they don’t even realize it.”
The other dogs rounding out the therapy dog team: Loki (a black Lab who is Charlie’s and Bocci’s brother); Hank, a Bernedoodle; Zek, a German Shepherd; Oakley and Spencer, Goldendoodles; and Goober, a Havanese and the smallest of the pooches.
Initially, Pollock had planned to have Charlie accompany him every day at the high school, but the schedule proved to be exhausting.
“When he’s here, he’s up at 6 a.m., and he’s getting so much stimulation whether it’s from touches or playing with the kids, and he’s awake from the time he’s here until the time he goes home. As soon as I get him into the car, he sleeps,” said Pollock.
Schmider said working as a therapy dog gives Lucy a sense of purpose, too. Whenever Schmider snaps on Lucy’s vest and ties on her maroon and gold scarf, Lucy’s tail wags and she knows she has a job to do.
“Lucy has been wonderful with the kids. They roll in here at around 8:30 in the morning, and we have about 500 kids coming through the door, and she will sit there and eat up all the attention,” said Schmider. “She loves them. This program is phenomenal.”