We were delighted to welcome our new school community dog, Gully (short for Gulliver), to our school community at the beginning of April. Gully has spent the past 18 months being trained by the Irish Guide Dogs to prepare him for working in a school as a community dog. Gully is such a good boy and brings a smile to everyone’s face when he meets them but what does a school community dog do? School community dogs support children with autism or different individual needs.
Each school community dog is rigorously trained to work in a school with a trained handler.
A school community dog has generally been originally trained as an assistance dog or guide dog but were the school community dog programme due to their social nature and gentle disposition.
A school community dog, along with their trained handler, becomes part of the essential learning process within the school. The dog and handler work alongside the educational staff and educational therapists in the school to help reduce stress and increase the learning potential of the students by goal directed interventions. Together, the trained dog and handler participate in classroom activities and work with individual students and groups.
All of the students and staff in Stepaside ETTS are delighted to have Gully join our community and look forward to enjoying all the benefits Gully brings to the school for many years to come.
