Lesa Fowler Head of Boarding
THE BENEFITS OF A SCHOOL DOG
Luna Peggy Fowler is St Margaret’s new school dog who has already proven to be a positive member of our school community. Research has shown that a school dog has an impact on students' wellbeing by providing social and emotional support to the students. While Luna is only a puppy at the time of writing, her presence in both the day school and the boarding house is having an incredibly positive impact on the girls and staff. One of the major benefits of a school dog is that it can provide comfort and support while also teaching responsibility to the girls in a way that is different from what they may learn in a classroom. According to Beetz et al. (2012), ‘the presence of a dog in an educational setting seems to support concentration, attention, motivation, and relaxation, reflecting reduction of high stress levels which inhibit effective learning and performance'. As Luna grows, the students will become more involved in taking responsibility for her care by looking after her during the day, at night in the boarding house, and by taking her for before and after school and weekend walks. Developing the ability to take care of Luna will, for some students, be a very important lesson in responsibility, beneficial at both an immediate and much broader level. Many students have already demonstrated they are willing to take responsibility for Luna and she, in turn, provides them with a source of comfort and enjoyment, especially for our boarders who are a long way from their own pets. Other research (Grove and Henderson 2018; Campanini 2019) has shown a variety of positive impacts a school dog can bring, including: • helping students to relax and contributing to a sense of calmness • reducing stress and anxiety • improving physical wellbeing • increasing positive mood • easing social isolation • increasing mental performance • building confidence
SUNATA
• providing sensory stimulation
30
• teaching empathy and appropriate interpersonal skills.
• enhancing relationships with others through trust and acceptance • helping boost self-esteem
This last point is particularly important. Caring for an animal is excellent training for building and sustaining caring relationships in humans. Empathy is the ability to sense another person’s feelings as one’s own and to communicate this recognition in a comforting way so that the other person feels emotionally supported. Teaching our girls empathy is very important as the ability to share and understand another’s perspective and feelings – to consider it before acting – is so important within a school and boarding community. By extension, another fundamental avenue of learning these skills is that pets can be invaluable in teaching children emotional intelligence, a measure of empathy and the ability to understand and connect to others. Empathy also involves the ability to read nonverbal cues – facial expressions, body language and gestures and Luna offers nothing but nonverbal cues. Another major benefit is that school dogs provides companionship and they have proven to be very good listeners that make no judgements. In situations of high emotional stress, simply sitting with a dog can help students deal with many different individual issues. Each student responds differently to stress and the presence of a dog can help students to relax and reflect more positively on the situation. Luna has already been present in situations where a staff member has been required to deliver bad news – for example, the passing of a pet at home – and she has certainly had a positive impact in these difficult situations. The importance of a pet at home is well documented; it is not unreasonable to suggest that a dog on the school campus would not have the same impact. References Beetz, A, Uvnäs-Moberg, K, Julius, H & Kotrschal, K 2012, ‘Psychosocial and psychophysiological effects of human-animal interactions: the possible role of oxytocin’, Frontiers in psychology, vol. 3, no. 234, viewed online 1 June 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC3408111/ Campanini, M 2019, ‘The benefits of a therapy dog in the school setting’, Independent Education. September, viewed online 1 June 2021, https://publications.ieu.asn.au/2019-september-ie/articles1/benefitstherapy-dog-school-setting/ Grove, C & Henderson, L 2018, ‘Therapy dogs can help reduce student stress, anxiety and improve school attendance’, The Conversation, viewed online 1 June 2021, https://theconversation.com/therapydogs-can-help-reduce-student-stress-anxiety-and-improve-schoolattendance-93073
