CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — A therapy dog named Eli joined Nutter Fort Elementary School on Wednesday as part of First Lady Cathy Justice’s Friends With Paws initiative.
Eli, a golden retriever, is the 24th therapy dog to be placed as part of the statewide program.
Student Elias Fox said he’s glad the school has a therapy dog and that everyone came out to welcome him.
“He seems like a very good dog, and he will be very good to us and make us happy,” Elias said.
Harrison County Schools Superintendent Dora Stutler was among those on hand to welcome Eli.
“When we were offered a therapy dog to be a part of the school here, it was an addition to the emotional support of our kids,” she said. “I can’t imagine anything better to add to what we already have here.”
Emerson Cunningham, a second-grader, said she’s happy to have Eli at Nutter Fort.
“I’m excited for him to be here for a while and that we get to pet him. He is a cute dog,” Emerson said.
Friends With Paws assigns certified therapy dogs to schools throughout West Virginia to provide crucial support to students. The goal is to have at least one therapy dog in every county across the state.
The Friends With Paws initiative is a partnership among the governor’s office, the Communities In Schools (CIS) program and the state Department of Education.
Therapy dogs are placed in CIS program schools, where students are disproportionately affected by poverty, substance misuse or other at-risk situations and are in the greatest need of a support animal.
The dogs serve as a healthy and friendly outlet for students to address trauma and other social-emotional issues.
Vicki Shannon, chief of staff for the first lady, said “pup rallies” like the one held Wednesday at Nutter Fort are a celebration of helping a school.
“You can’t help but see the happiness that is going on,” she said. “The children’s faces light up, and all the sudden you see the stress melting away. It even helps the teachers, because we all know anyone working in a school has a tough job.”
Each Friends With Paws therapy dog is trained extensively at Ultimate Canine in Westfield, Indiana.
“We see the value in these therapy dogs, and a lot of research went into choosing a company for putting a therapy dog in a school, because we wanted to make we were bringing the very best product into the school,” Shannon said. “We feel that with Ultimate Canine, that we made the right decision.”
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