Milford Youth Center Introduces Comfort Dogs To Programs

MILFORD, MA — The Milford Youth Center is offering a new way for students to unwind after school — comfort dogs. The center was recently awarded a grant through the Greater Milford Community Health Network to support a comfort dog pilot program & Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) for youths. While the dogs for the program are being trained, a local volunteer with trained dogs of her own has stepped up to allow the kids in the center some time with the pooches.

Milford Youth Center Director Jen Ward said the idea for a comfort dog program has been in the works for years, the funding from the grant is what is bringing it to fruition. Staff from the center used to bring their personal pets in for kids to interact with and Ward said she saw positive affects from that small interaction. "We knew a student who was selective mute and after spending some time with one of the staff members dogs, she would say a few words, it was incredible," Ward said. The idea for a comfort dog program blossomed from there.

The center is collaborating with Community Impact, a local mental health practice, to launch the program and have therapists and dogs trained. "The goal is to have the program running by next school year," Ward said.

Counselors from the center are going through training and will be either paired with a dog or have their personal dogs trained. Once the program is in full swing, Ward said the center plans on having them available in the quiet zones and homework help programs where kids can calmly interact with them. "If we see that a child is really benefitting from interaction with our comfort dogs, we'll then refer them to Community Impact, since they're the experts," Ward said.

In the meantime, the center has a volunteer coming once a month with her therapy dogs to visit the kids. Dawn Foley was trained from Dog B.O.N.E.S therapy and brought her two dogs, Daisy and Callie, to visit the kids in the center on Tuesday. "You could see it just brighten their day," Ward said.

Kids sat in a circle and took turns petting the dogs and letting them sit on their lap if they felt comfortable. Ward said she even saw some kids step out of their comfort zones. "There were a few kids who were afraid of dogs that I saw make their way over and pet them," she said.