Great Dane a hit in schools
By Jonathan
Phelps
jphelps@eagletribune.com
ANDOVER — Meet Timmy.
He's a 160-pound Great Dane with a lustrous
black coat often seen visiting students at several Andover
schools.
His owner, Joan Collins, an adapted physical
education teacher, brings him to school several times a week
depending on her schedule with her classes being at West Middle
School and Wood Hill Middle School.
Timmy — a 2-year-old certified therapy dog —
doesn't have a specific job description with the School
Department, but every time he visits the schools, the students
love seeing him, Collins said.
"They tell me he cheers them up and makes them
really happy," Collins said.
Tuesday morning, William Rullo, a student at
West Middle School had the opportunity to greet Timmy outside as
he arrived in Collins' van for a visit.
"I didn't know he would be so excited to see
us," said William, 13. "I am so happy Ms. Collins brings him. I
love dogs."
Fellow student Allison Clark, 13, said it makes
her feel happy every time she gets to see Timmy.
"My favorite part of him coming to school is
just getting to see him and hang around him," Allison said,
adding that she thinks it is "cool" that Timmy is allowed in
school.
Timmy helps many students in a variety of ways,
including language development, social interaction,
communication, and motivation, Collins said.
As an adapted physical education teacher,
Collins works with students with various special needs, and
Timmy helps many of them in different ways. Timmy becomes an
added motivator and provides encouragement for these students to
get through challenging classes, said Sherrie Kimball, a
teaching assistant.
"It brightens their day," said Karen Szarek, a
special education teacher who works with Collins at West Middle
School. "If the students had a tough day they get to see Timmy
as a reward."
Timmy is "non-judgmental" and
"non-threatening," Collins said, which helps students open up to
talk about their feelings, start conversations and even meet new
friends. Timmy also helps students with self-esteem, depression,
anxiety and loneliness issues, she said.
As a certified therapy dog, Timmy had to take
multiple obedience classes and went through a canine good
citizenship program. He is also a member of Therapy Dog
International.
Recently, Collins collaborated with other
teachers for a Spanish and art multi-disciplinary project in
which seventh-graders from the Wood Hill Middle School drew
pictures of Timmy and wrote about him in Spanish.
The class also wrote a song in Spanish about
Timmy and worked with some second-graders at High Plain
Elementary School during certain aspects of the project.
"The teacher told me, 'You'll never believe how
much more Spanish they are retaining now because of Timmy and
the project,'" Collins said.
Timmy is not the first therapy dog that Collins
has owned. She said she became interested in doing work with
therapy dogs because she had observed other therapy dogs in
hospitals and nursing homes. "I saw what bringing in a dog could
do for people," Collins said.
She picked a Great Dane to train as a therapy
dog because they are "gentle giants," calm and loving, she said.
There are other therapy dogs throughout the
district, including Murray, a golden retriever, at High Plain
Elementary and Mandy, a cocker spaniel, at Sanborn Elementary
School.
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