NEVER
MIND the National Curriculum, SATS or even GCSEs – the
best learning aid in schools nowadays is a dog – and
that’s official!
Some weeks ago, OUR DOGS reported the growing use of dogs
in the classroom, focussing on the case of ‘Henry’,
the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who is gainfully employed
in the behaviour unit at Dronfield School, near Sheffield.
Henry was already a big hit with the students at the secondary
school, but after his appearance in the Times Literary Supplement
in November, he proved to be a big hit with the media too,
earning him appearances on GMTV, Richard and Judy and also
Blue Peter, as well as several newspapers, including OUR DOGS.
He’s also become a celebrity in the USA, Australia and
the Middle East.
But the little dog who was made an honorary member of the
public service union UNISON in recognition of his role as
a classroom assistant hasn’t let fame go to his head.
He still interacts with the pupils at Dronfield and has a
queue of willing applicants wanting to take him for a walk
each day.
It has since emerged that there are lots of other classroom
dogs and the idea is rapidly gaining currency; whereas a few
years ago dogs were decidedly persona non grata in the classroom,
largely due to politically correct hysteria over phobias and
asthma, now our children’s educators can’t get
enough of them.
And what better than to be taught by Crufts qualified dogs
- especially ones that look like miniature teddy bears and
smile? This is the view of David and Sue Lindsay from West
Moors, Dorset who regularly take their Keeshonds – accompanied
by a Labrador – into many different classrooms, with
amazing results.
"We often take the dogs into Eastleigh College in Hampshire,
where the pupils have learning difficulties," says Sue,
herself a qualified teacher, "Their reaction to the dogs
is amazing, especially the Keesies, because they ‘smile’
and this gives the kids a great interaction. Once when we
were due to give an assembly with the dogs, some of the teachers
expressed concern to us about some of the children who were
dog phobic, and asked whether they should be told to expect
dogs so they weren’t too afraid. I told her not to say
anything. So we went in, ‘Sky’ the Labrador sat
down and waved at them, as she’s been trained to do
and the Keesies went through their routine of jumping through
a hoop and running through a tunnel. The kids were entranced.
We took classes afterwards and none of the ‘dog phobic’
kids panicked at all, and they were amongst the first to make
a huge fuss of the dogs.
Self-esteem
"The
children are often very wary of new experiences, but bit by
bit they learn to touch the dogs and then before you know
it, they’re leading them through a basic agility course.
It’s excellent for their co-ordination and teamwork,
builds their self-esteem and improves their communication
skills. One teacher told us that there’s a boy who seldom,
if ever, speaks to anyone, but he chats away happily when
the dogs are around. It’s very gratifying and quite
moving."
Dave is a qualified animal trainer and is a member of the
International Marine Animal Trainer Association. "I enjoy
working with animals," says Dave. "When I qualified
after studying agriculture I went to work on a dairy farm
in Saudi Arabia, because it sounded interesting.
After that, I moved back to England and worked at Windsor
Safari Park for 20 years, working with dolphins, killer whales
and other marine animals.
"When the Park closed, I was at a bit of a loss, so I
went along to one of Ian Dunbar’s dog training courses,
because I’ve always liked dogs – my mother used
to show dogs – and it was there that I met Sue, who’s
always been into dogs. We’ve been together for eight
years now and we do the education with dogs, as well as showing
them whenever we can."
The Lindsays exhibit Keeshonds with some success under the
Mezanda affix and are exhibiting two of their five Keeshonds
at Crufts this week.
The couple put in a lot of hard work training and desensitising
the dogs before they meet the students, which is a very different
environment than the show ring, but their hard work is all
worthwhile, as both readily acknowledge.
"It’s quite an interesting life," smiles Dave.
"As well as their work in formal education, the dogs
also participate in pet care courses that we run. They demonstrate
emergency muzzling and bandaging, and the trainers of the
future are taught the basics – by the dogs."
"All their training is reward-based," adds Sue.
"We use Hill’s food and we’re very grateful
to them generously sponsoring our work over a number of years.
"We’d also like to acknowledge the extremely important
role of OUR DOGS newspaper. The paper is used as a basis for
discussion of canine issues and as a source of information
for our advanced students."
