Four legged workers are spread throughout Dallastown Area School District and are very loved and doted on by many students and staff.
These workers have adorable names like Max, Winnie and Doodle. Max is the therapy dog at Dallastown High School and Winnie is the therapy dog for Dallastown Middle School. Susquehanna Service Dog Doodle is the Dallastown Area Intermediate School’s facility dog.
Therapy dogs and service dogs differ by a vast majority of factors, even though people do interchange the two titles.
Therapy dogs, like Max and Winnie, go through classes and many tests over the course of a year and a half to become certified for the job. But sometimes the owners do start training them from an early age, like school counselor Kerris Bouchillon.
“He went through a year and a half of classes, but I started training him as well when he was a puppy,” Bouchillon said.
Therapy dogs have to have a good temperament around people, he shouldn’t be jumping excessively, barking, or biting.
Max knows many commands to help him and the person he is interacting with be comfortable and know that Max is able to listen.
“Therapy dogs are meant to be ‘loved’ on and do not serve a specific purpose other than to provide support, comfort, and affection to those it interacts with,” Bouchillon explains.
Therapy and service facility dogs serve two different purposes but are both benefiting the students in some way.
All service dogs are trained from the moment they are born until they are around two years old. They are trained to work full work days and how to work with specific abilities, like SSD Doodle was trained to work as a facility dog.
SSD Doodle was specifically trained to work in a school facility and has been with the Dallastown Intermediate School since April 2022, even though we have had service dogs before then.
Facility dogs can be trained to work at hospitals, rehabilitation centers, schools, and courthouses. All service dogs work full days alongside their handlers.
Throughout the day SSD Doodle is a part of classroom lessons, guidance groups, individual student sessions, and she greets students at the beginning and end of each day.
Even though service dogs work the whole day, they are allowed to take breaks. Whenever SSD Doodle doesn’t have her vest on, it signals to the students and staff that she is currently not working, she also gets to rest when her handler, Marjie Whye, is not working directly with others.
“SSD Doodle is such a good fit for the school because she is active with a lot of energy,” states Whye, “She loves to work and likes to take her breaks after school is done for the day.”
Max, Winnie, and SSD Doodle are Dallastown’s current dogs, in the past Eugene Byers has brought service dogs to school with him to train.
Byers has brought seven dogs through Dallastown consisting of SSD Ambassador Lovell, SSD Foxtrot, SSD (VIP) Donley, SSD (VIP) Suez, SSD Crosby, SSD Teton and SSD Parker.
“I love bringing pups to school because they can change the entire atmosphere in the room without ever saying a word… dogs change lives,” Byers said.
Byers has high hopes that more schools sign up to have a service dog in the future to join the faculty because it does take a long time.
Students, like Saniyah Grant, find that the dogs are helpful and are a great comfort when they aren’t feeling their best.
“Max is very helpful and when I was going through a hard time in my life, he was very good at sensing emotions, especially sad emotions,” Grant said.
Students also go to see them when they know they are available, where the dogs provide them with great company and a reason to be excited to come to school everyday.
