There’s just something about a dog.
At least there is when the dog is Aloha, a friendly black lab who recently visited classrooms at P/NW BOCES’ Pines Bridge School. A certified therapy dog, Aloha snuggled with students and even provided an opportunity for them to practice some math skills.
“The students became quite chatty during Aloha’s visit,” said Sarah Kaplan, an occupational therapist at Pines Bridge. “They did math problems related to things like how old Aloha is (five years old) and how many puppies she’s had (36).
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Working as a therapy dog is a second career for Aloha. Until recently, she served a “breed dog” for Guiding Eyes, where she was valued for her outstanding traits and temperament. Those characteristics are put to good use in her new role as a therapy dog, visiting area schools such as Pines Bridge.
Kaplan, a friend of Aloha’s owner, Karen Stackowitz, thought the dog would be a perfect fit at Pines Bridge. “Karen is a retired physical therapist herself and understands what we do here at Pines Bridge,” said Kaplan. “She also lives in Yorktown, making visits very easy.”
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Aloha recently spent a day visiting all of the classrooms at Pines Bridge and the Walden School library.
“Aloha is a sweet and gentle dog,” said Walden librarian Eileen McCutchen. “When she visited the library, the students were very engaged and had some very thoughtful questions and comments.” She added, “Our library is pretty calm to begin with, and Aloha added that extra layer of calmness that is so important to our students.”
