Therapy Dogs in Classroom Programs: Pet Partners and The Pet Care Trust

Pet Partners has long supported the benefits of animal-assisted interventions for students and in classrooms. We’re always seeking opportunities to bring these benefits to more classrooms and provide more students with the effects of the human-animal bond. 

For the last several years we have partnered with The Pet Care Trust, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enhance students’ educational and personal development through interaction with pets in their classrooms, in providing the Dogs in the Classroom program. 

 The program provides interactions with registered therapy dog teams in classrooms across the country, helping more students experience the benefits of the human-animal bond. 

How Does the Program Work?

The Dogs in the Classroom program is designed to bring well-trained and thoroughly screened therapy animal teams to select schools in an effort to improve the health and well-being of students.  

Teachers who are interested in taking part in Dogs in the Classroom are encouraged to establish goals for their work with therapy animals. There are several areas to focus on in setting goals:

• Social/emotional goals – self-esteem, acceptance from others, stress reduction. 
• Academic/cognitive goals – classroom time with therapy animals can stimulate memory, focus, and problem solving. 
• Structured interactions – special lesson plans, ranging from units on life science to teaching empathy, or reading programs. 
• Informal interactions – allowing children the opportunity to express themselves to the team and pet the therapy dog without specific learning objectives. 

Teachers should also develop policies and procedures for the therapy dog team visits to their classroom. These visits are voluntary activities, so students and families should have a way to opt out of the visits, and teachers need to be prepared to address concerns about allergies and fear or dislike of interacting with dogs, as well as questions about potential infection or injury concerns. Teachers should also make a plan for logistical needs, such as informing students and families about therapy dog visits, as well as how the therapy dog team will enter and exit the building for visits and where the dog can go for bio-breaks. 

Once matched, teachers and therapy dog handlers should work together to prepare for visits. The handler can provide information to the teacher about Pet Partners requirements and policy, to help with any questions or concerns about safety. The teacher will need to provide logistical information to the handler, and it can be useful for the handler to make a visit to the school without their therapy dog to prepare and discuss any potential logistical concerns. And the teacher and handler can work collaboratively to plan interactions, based on the teacher’s goals for the therapy dog visits, as well as holding post-visit debrief sessions to fine-tune visits and interactions. 

More information about participating in the program is available on the Dogs in the Classroom Program Information page. 

Pet Partners will manage the recruiting for therapy dog teams when requests are received through the program application. If you’re a Pet Partners therapy dog handler interested in this program, you don’t need to do anything—we’ll contact you if there’s a request for teams in your area.

The Benefits of Dogs in the Classroom

There are numerous benefits of the human animal bond. Here are some that are commonly cited as beneficial in school settings: 

• Interactions with therapy animals improve social skills among peers, reduce stress and anxiety, and increase endorphins. 
• Children experience better focus and confidence while learning with therapy animals present. 
• Children who are learning to read are often shy or hesitant about their abilities. When reading to a therapy animal, research shows children feel at ease because animals are just there to listen—not to judge how well they are reading. 

There is more detailed information about research on these benefits on the Dogs in the Classroom Research page. 

 For a high-level look at theories about the process of why animal-assisted interventions work, see our blog post. 

Responses to the Classroom Therapy Pet Program

Teachers are seeing positive developments from participating. 

One teacher said, “My class loved the interaction with Buster and asked many questions about him. They really enjoyed the visit and can’t wait for the next one.” 

 Pet Partners is excited to be working with Pets in the Classroom on this project and demonstrate how teachers can work with registered therapy dog teams to support their students through the human-animal bond.