When she brings her three-year-old Bichon-cocker Mila to school each day, Tammy Schepens, a guidance counsellor at Leo Nickerson Elementary School, doesn’t have to worry about the many children she’ll interact with throughout the day.
Mila has been trained to work with children, but she also has a way of making them feel more at ease, said Schepens.
“There is a naturalness about a dog that works with kids,” she told the Gazette last week.
“It’s like she knows the rules but as soon as a child walks in, all the rules go out the door. She’s there for the child, for whatever the child needs.”
Previously, Schepens brought a dog to her elementary and junior high classrooms but, after 13 years, the dog retired.
A friend asked Schepens if she was willing to take in Mila as a new pet. Schepens agreed, but only on the condition that the animal could cope with being around children all day.
Mila proved to be a perfect fit with students and staff at the school.
“She has a gift for this and she gives of herself all day. Some dogs can’t.”
By simply being present, Mila helps children feel more comfortable, Schepens said, something that in turns helps her do her job better.
“Kids that don’t necessarily for some reason … they’re more cautious with adults or people, they have a natural affection for the dog and the dog has no preconceived notion of who they are. And they offer unconditional love and attention to the kids and it’s immediate. It’s not-something you have to work at — it just happens right away,” she said.
“Sometimes the adults or the teachers or their peers, that’s not their safe place and a dog seems to allow a child to have an emotional safe place to be.”
Schepens said a significant body of research supports this theory.
In Teaching Empathy: Animal Assisted Therapy Programs for Children and Families Exposed to Violence, researchers Lynn Loar and Libby Colman suggest children relate well to animals because the two have many commonalities.
“Children identify with animals. Both tend to be smaller and lower to the ground than adults, and both share the largesse and bear the brunt of benign and harmful human behaviour. Like young children, animals express their emotions directly and are not misled by words,” they write.
Loar and Colman argue that controlled contact with animals can be especially helpful when children have emotional difficulties and might even have an inhibiting effect toward mental disturbances.
“Any anxiety disorders, any kind of attention deficit hyper-activity disorder where kids have a difficult time remaining calm and still, the dog will automatically do that for them,” said Schepens.
“I’ve had children come in really upset about things that are happening. It might not even be about things at school and as soon as they see Mila and they start to pet her, they start talking about it and they are able to calm down and then we are able to actually talk about what’s really bothering them.”
Schepens said Mila is never a distraction to kids in the classroom.
“All of the research actually points to the fact that the dog has the opposite effect, especially if the dog is trained for a classroom setting,” she said.
“As much as they are in their desk listening to what’s going on, they are receiving that emotional support they’re needing to pay attention. So it has the opposite effect as opposed to being a distraction.”
Right now, Schepens said she is trying to teach Mila not to lick when she meets people. Although she is a hypoallergenic dog and doesn’t shed, her allergens are transmitted through saliva.
She said Mila is well cared for by a small group of students known as the Recess Committee, who take Mila outside and keep an eye on her during recess.
The kids are responsible for walking her and protecting her on the playground, as well as picking up after her.
Kayla O’Blenis, a Grade 2 student at the school, said Mila especially enjoys playing soccer with the kids.
“We’re trying not to let her eat garbage or trying not to let her get cold,” she added.
