Utilizing a 4PawzStrong Dog
Resource for Schools
Our dogs can be a resource in a variety of ways to students, staff and more.
– Welcoming sight to students, staff and the community
– Eases student reluctance and anxiety (across different academic areas, daily transitions, coming back from time off)
– Provides some students with a connection to school that they may have struggled to find otherwise
– Our dogs are non-judgmental and allow students to take healthy academic and social emotional risks (reading out loud, practicing presentations, providing students practice on lagging speech and language skills)
– Dogs model social emotional learning skills in a practical way
– How to sit for an extended period of time (place & practice)
– Personal Space (how the dog handles itself and others around the dog)
– Showing compassion (stopping to be petted or when someone is in need)
– Putting others first
– Taking Responsibility (feeding, watering and bath rooming)
– Physical Exercise (playing fetch)
– Our dogs can be part of an intervention with a small group of students who are learning coping skills to manage anxiety.
– PBIS: Teachers submit names of students who have done outstanding work or made a really good decision as far as being responsible, respectful, or excelling and receive extra time with our dogs.
Resource for the Community
Integrating our dogs in community and school events and to support the needs of individuals in the community.
– Sporting Events
– Drama Presentations
– Parent Teacher Conferences
– Farmers Market (Community gets to interact with dogs)
– Downtown Festivals
– Fundraisers
– Charity Events
– Funerals
In each of these areas our dogs help make each of these successful by:
– Providing an opportunity for kids to be authentic and transparent with their emotions.
– Individuals becoming less worried about who is there, what they did or didn’t look like.
– Being on the other end of the leash allows individuals to open up with questions and concerns at an easier level.
– Supporting individuals having to take those difficult first steps into a setting that can be uncomfortable and for many brand new.
– Providing a positive chemical change within the brain in a difficult or stressful situation.
Social Emotional Reasoning
Student academic performance, social acceptance, and being in a world where things are given and happen at a rapid pace has never been higher. 4 Pawz Stong has recognized this and has helped to provide educators, students and their communities with Social Emotional Learning Dogs to ease all of these areas, even if it is for just brief moments.
Our Social Emotional Learning Dogs provide staff with opportunities to connect and reach students at a higher and more genuine level. These dogs open the door, sometimes ever so slightly, for staff to reach kids at a more personal level and at crucial times. These dogs are the perfect medium for teacher and student relationships.
Building social emotional capital with students is increasingly important these days. These dogs help us to build and maintain relationships, which our foundation believes is one the essential elements in being a highly qualified teacher or staff member. Students relate those staff members that have the dogs as safe, caring and approachable.
Individuals With Disabilities
Our dogs have the ability to support and partner with these individuals in a wide range of ways.
– Provides them with a social connection that can be difficult for some our students and individuals.
– Can be an integral part to Positive Behavior Support Plans.
– Someone to practice social skills with prior to an event or situation.
– Used to help students come into school, out of classrooms, in from recess.
– Part of our Tension Reduction and Therapeutic Rapport Process
– Physical therapy (using the dog to stretch students who are wheel-chair bound, provide tactile therapy).
– Used for sensory breaks (playing fetch, taking for a walk, etc.)