Quimby is a five-month-old Labradoodle from Indiana who has made his way through training and across the Midwest to Wilton Elementary School where he will be put to work as the school’s therapy dog.

According to Wilton elementary principal Denise Austin, handlers were specially selected in order to have, “trained coverage throughout the whole school,” although Quimby will spend most of his time in the elementary wing. Handlers include guidance staff and special education professionals.

Austin said that special education teacher Kara Anderson initially presented the idea for Wilton Elementary to have a therapy dog.

Anderson worked as a long-term sub at a school and said she was able to “watch the therapy dog in action.” She said therapy dogs can help students with anxiety and behavior disorders in order to help them stay calm.

During the research, school staff found that some of the overall goals of having a therapy dog in a school include: increasing empathy or compassion, help improve self-esteem, help reduce stress and anxiety among children in social settings that are stressful, reduce anxiety levels and help children to decompress after traumatic circumstances, improve reading skills, comprehension and increase confidence and literary interest by reading out loud to the animal and lessen the emotional trauma of a critical incident/event for students, teachers and staff.

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