8 Therapy Dogs Working In Middletown Schools

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Did you know? There are currently eight therapy dogs working in the Middletown school district, as part of a unique partnership Middletown schools are trying out with Attitudes in Reverse.

Attitudes in Reverse in an anti-bullying non-profit based in Princeton.

The dogs, all puppies, are being trained by the students as therapy dogs. All eight dogs will be in Middletown schools for the next 11 months; by the end of the 38-week course, the goal is the dogs will be certified as therapy dogs thanks to their work with Middletown school kids.

The schools the dogs are in are: Middletown Village Elementary, High School North, High School South, Bayview Elementary, Leonardo Elementary, Thorne Middle School and Harmony Elementary.

This is the first time the Middletown school district has ever tried something like this.

The principal of Leonardo elementary, Peter Smith, along with assistant superintendent Patrick Rinella was instrumental in bringing the therapy dog program in, according to Tricia Baker, co-founded of Attitudes in Reverse.

Rinella said he was inspired to bring this to Middletown after he saw therapy dogs being trained in the Hopewell Valley School District in Hopewell, New Jersey (Hunterdon County).

“Therapy dogs are trained to respond to tragedy in the lives of adults and students,” said Leonardo principal Smith. “If something significant happens, an emergency in the district, our course of action is to call our counselors in to assist. In the future, once they are certified and ready to go, we would call our dogs in as well to help students and staff get through any difficult time that may arise.”

For example, when a mid-morning thunder storm rolled through Middletown last month, a classroom teacher at Leonardo Elementary noticed one particular student was getting very anxious.

So she called the main office to bring Ace into the classroom, a one-and-a-half-year-old Australian shepherd poodle mix. The dog was able to calm the nerves of this young student and help them return to class.

The dogs will also be taught eye contact training, leash work, command obedience training and hand signal recognition training.

Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com.