Therapy dogs are a hit at Mt. Pleasant schools

Who wouldn’t want to take their furry friend to school every day? That’s exactly what Cody Kite-Warth, a school counselor at Van Allen and Salem schools, and Ashlei Venghaus, a counselor at the Mt. Pleasant High School get to do every day.

The dogs are part of a program where they serve as therapy dogs at the schools. They are there to help the students and counselors navigate day to day activities and counseling situations. There are four dogs currently in the program at Mt. Pleasant schools.

“Jupiter is an Australian Shepherd,” said Kite-Warth. “He is six months old and going into his training phase to be a certified therapy dog.”

“We do training in Iowa City, with two of the other counselors and their dogs,” said Kite-Warth. “And then in February Jupiter will leave and go to Knallhart Academy where he will go through therapy dog training for six weeks. And then back to school for the end of the year, and then in June he will leave for another six weeks to complete his training.”

“The schools decided that therapy dogs would be a good fit into our school curriculum, and they looked at a couple of training places around the area, and decided that including dogs would be a very positive thing for the children,” said Kite-Warth. “The schools are, through a grant, supplying the training for the dogs.”

Jupiter came from litter that another school counselor had bred, and Kite-Warth has had Jupiter since he was seven seeks old. “His job is to be here for the kids,” said Kite-Warth. “He is here to be a calming presence and entertainment. He loves to do that part.”

“He is also there to give them a “brain break” too,” said Kite-Warth. “If the student is not having a good day, or something is wrong, he is good to automatically shift their behavior into something better. He gets them to change their mood and think positive things.”

“Dogs give unconditional love,” said Kite-Warth. “They are there to give you everything that they have without judgment. A therapy dog will break down barriers like crazy, and make ways to be able to reach the kids. We want to be the person at school that they can come to no matter what, and the dogs allow us to do that. They add another layer of support.”

Venghaus has Moby, a Shih Tzu-Maltese mix that will be one year old in March, which attends to his duties at the high school. “He is from a local breeder,” said Venghaus. “Right when we were having a conversation about therapy dogs at the schools, she had a litter that was on the way.”

“I had been wanting to have a therapy dog at some point in my life, and this opportunity came along, said Venghaus. “We wrote therapy dogs into the grant, and we ended up getting the grant, and it all worked out.”

Moby is currently at training at the academy. The dogs have to pass three tests to become therapy dogs, and Moby is about to complete two of the three tests. He will be back at the school sometime in the middle of February, he has been at training since November.

“It’s been fun to see him work with the kids,” said Venghaus. “Moby will go to them and they will immediately start to change. They really start to open up a little bit more after that encounter.”

“Moby will be with me full time after he has completed training, his job will be to work with me and the teachers,” said Venghaus. “Moby will be available to give extra support to the teachers. A therapy dog can go just about anywhere.”