School Therapy Dog

At Kingsley Park we have a few trained Therapy Dogs that come and visit. Toodles and Rampage visit every second Thursday depending on availability, they come and do reading with students in classrooms. Rampage and Toodles join us for running club each Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8.15am. 

Toodles (a French Bulldog) and Rampage (a Rottweiler) visit every second Thursday depending on availability and need, they come and do reading with students in classrooms. Rampage and Toodles join us for running club each Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8.15am. 

Axe returns for some visits ocassionally, he has been with us for some time now and is well loved by many students, he is a German Shorthaired Pointer – or GSP for short.
Our Therapy Dogs perform a number of duties around the school, they may assist with getting anxious students in to class, they are there for a pat and calm down time as needs arise, they love to sit and listen to stories and may be in the yard at times for a pat and chat time. Axe is on call during those days for students may have experienced some trauma in their home life.

We understand that animals, including dogs are not liked by all children and that some children are actually allergic to dogs.If your child has any allergies to dogs or is afraid of dogs, please let the school know so we can assist with ensuring a positive experience for your child.  If your child is scared of dogs, please make sure their teacher is aware so we introduce them to the dogs slowly at their pace. Before meeting our Therapy Dogs, students are reminded of the need to be calm and quiet around them, to approach from the front without running at the dogs and to ask for a pat before reaching out. They wear their Therapy Dog bandana or vest when on duty.

Although the therapy Dogs are well trained, we ask that other dogs are not to be brought into the school grounds during school times unless they are Assistant dogs of some kind and are wearing their vests or permission has been sought from the office for a quick visit.
Dogs can cause other dogs to become unsettled and over-excited.
We also discuss with children the importance of never approaching an unknown dog, they should always ask the owner prior to patting their dog. At times we welcome other trained Therapy Dogs into the school who are known to us.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.

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