‘It's been almost two years now. But every morning, the kids are excited to see them’

BYRON — At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, Byron Middle School agriculture teacher Maggie Folk started a veterinary science unit for her eighth graders. 

As part of the unit, Folk brought in her two dogs, Brady and Woody, to help students learn how to restrain animals and take vital signs including heart and respiration rates. The dogs have not left BMS since and were approved by the school board and administration to stick around due to their positive impact on the school environment. 

“The dogs just became part of the school community,” Folks said. “They're out in the hallway in the mornings greeting everyone and the teachers come in and see them. It just creates this start for the day that's really nice. And the students liked the vet science unit so much that I ended up offering it for seventh and sixth graders. The dogs spent all year in school. They just started joining us on a daily basis, despite not always being involved in the curriculum."

BMS Principal Mike Sand gave his approval for the dogs to be involved at the school and the handbook allows for animals to be present for educational purposes. In the past, Folk has also brought horses to the school for learning and students have brought their cattle and raised meat chickens as part of the ag program.

“That's what ag is about,” Folk said. “We learn everything and then apply it in whatever topic we're learning. It was kind of a natural progression that when we do a small animal unit, we should have live small animals. It just makes students' experiences much more authentic.”

Folk believes the main benefit of having Brady and Woody in the school has been the social emotional aspect for students. She says they’ve changed the classroom culture in a positive way. Students come in with an “automatic smile” and greet the dogs each day. 

Students have expressed to Folk that they’ve had a greater desire to come to school because of Brady and Woody. Some students, and even teachers, have overcome their fear of dogs by getting to know the pair. 

“There's just a lot more to the social emotional side,” Folk said. “Kids open up and talk about their animals and I get a lot more insight into their home life and their personalities. Just teaching a class regularly, you don't have those opportunities and connections.”

More BMS students are now looking forward to their ag classes, Folk said. Some BMS teachers will borrow the dogs for a class or come in on their lunch breaks to see them. Sometimes the school’s counselors will utilize them for a meeting with a student. Eighth graders will ask to walk the dogs during their study hall periods.

Folk has read studies about the positive effects of having dogs in schools and says she’s seen the positive impacts firsthand. She believes all schools should have something like it. 

“I'll have kids that are having a rough day and come in and say, 'I just need a dog break. Can I lay down with them?'” Folk said. “One kid said once that 'Brady is a really good listener. I can tell him all my secrets.' There's something about a dog that a kid can open up to. I can sit there and talk while they're petting the dogs and so much more comes out in conversation because there's just like this buffer.”

BMS sixth grader Daniel Cornett said that having Brady and Woody in his classes made him feel “a lot more relaxed.” 

“If I was having trouble, I could just pet the dogs for a bit and come back fresh,” Cornett said. “It felt like it made agriculture a better experience for me. I never thought I'd be in a class that had dogs in it all day. I think it made me more comfortable in school to have them there. They're definitely useful to help students be more comfortable, happier and more determined.”

Sixth grader Hallie Clark said the dogs made it easy for students to practice veterinary skills in class. Clark has anxiety, and petting them would help her when she would get anxiety attacks. 

Sixth grader Dylan Sproule said Brady and Woody would make him happy every time he walked into class. 

“And they really comforted me when I was having a bad day,” Sproule said. “When I was feeling sad, I would always go over to them and they'd make me happy.”

Byron sixth grader Jackson White said he didn’t really like dogs before having class with Brady and Woody. They helped him to be more comfortable around dogs and in school. 

Sixth grader Gwen Brandt called having the dogs in class “a real relief” and said it helped with the stress of school. 

“When you're petting a dog, you don't really think about anything else except petting that dog,” Brandt said. “That's just taking your mind off everything that's going on around you. That's a really big stress reliever. It's more fun in the classroom with a dog.”

Folk said the positive effects brought by Brady and Woody came at an opportune time after the COVID-19 pandemic impacted schooling in recent years. Students were separated by remote learning and after that, by masks, plexiglass dividers and being unable to share equipment and do group projects. Folk said those impacts required some recovery. 

“As soon as I brought the dogs in, it was like all of us had this common ground again,” Folk said. “I could barely get them to put their hands down because everybody wanted to share their pet stories. It was really like a healing connection because of that common compassion and love of our animals that helped to bridge that COVID-19 gap."

While Folk’s class is moving on from the vet science curriculum, Brady and Woody will remain. 

“It's been really extraordinary,” Folk said. “I knew that everybody loves dogs. But I thought it would kind of wear off a little bit. It's been almost two years now. But every morning, the kids are excited to see them. A teacher comes in or a group of students coming down the hall. They're just greeted like they've never seen them before."