ERVING — The Erving Elementary School has welcomed a new four-legged classmate who will be studying Therapy Dog 101 over the summer to bring connection and community to students and staff alike.
Ivy, a nearly 3-month-old black lab from the New Hampshire-based comfort and therapy dog breeder Boonefield Labradors, spent the last part of the school year getting acclimated to her new role, said Elizabeth Desorgher, a teacher, the school’s Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program academic coordinator, and now, Ivy’s handler and owner.
Although Ivy only started in late May, she’s already making a paws-itive impression.
“There was a student today who wrote a letter to ‘Mrs. Ivy,’ and said, ‘You’re such a good teacher, you bring me comfort,'” Desorgher recounted.
Desorgher said that Ivy is a resource for the school, as she is trained to maintain a calm and relaxed demeanor that students learn to model to regulate their own emotions, whether that’s by taking deep breaths, drinking some water or doing some stretches.
“To be explicitly teaching children about self-awareness, how to name your emotions, name what’s happening, and here you have this puppy next to you who’s remaining calm through all of that,” Desorgher said. “We have a feeling, we notice this feeling, that feeling passes and we still go about our day.”
Additionally, Desorgher noted that bringing Ivy to classrooms for students to meet her helps instruct them on how she’s a working dog. She behaves a certain way while at school, which is not so different from the kids who are expected to follow the same expectations.
“The possibilities are endless, having this dog … to teach kids empathy, to teach kids about connection and community,” Desorgher said.
Peggi Brogan of Boonefield Labradors wrote in an email that the dogs are bred for “temperament, confidence, resilience and a natural desire to engage with people.” From birth, the puppies are presented with opportunities for socialization, enrichment and exposure to new environments. Comfort dog Mack of the Montague Police Department and comfort dog Frank of the Greenfield Police Department are two other local dogs from Boonefield Labradors.
“One of the things that makes our program unique is that puppies are typically placed directly into their future school, department or organization at just 8 weeks of age,” Brogan explained. “We often say they are ‘training on the job for the job,’ growing up in the very environment where they will eventually work.”
This training is something that Boonefield Labradors helps future handlers with, on top of other supports for organizations to make their comfort dog programs sustainable. This includes helping to set guidance on policies and procedures for comfort dogs.
Desorgher proposed the idea to the Erving School Committee last spring, explaining how she reached out to other schools with comfort dogs, both within and outside of Massachusetts, and consulted with Montague School Resource Officer Dan Miner, who is Mack’s partner. She conducted a staff survey and communicated with parents to gauge interest in having a therapy dog at school, and engaged in question-and-answer sessions with the School Committee before getting the green light to adopt Ivy earlier this spring. Desorgher covers any costs associated with Ivy’s care.
Now that Ivy has had a few weeks in school before summer break started, Desorgher said she’s going to be keeping up the training all summer, maintaining her skills even at home while her therapy dog vest is off.
Desorgher described Ivy as a silly, playful and well-loved puppy who’s learning just as much about being a comfort dog as Desorgher is learning about how to train her.
“This will be a really good time for Ivy and I to truly solidify our bond,” Desorgher said of the summer break.
To keep up with Ivy, Desorgher has created an Instagram page, Pawsitively_Ivy, where she plans to post updates on her progress. Her page can be found at tinyurl.com/y6ymvxrj.
