Facility Dog Serves to Calm Students

Most elementary education teachers would probably agree that classroom management can be a challenge at times. Having a special way to calm a child could offer a definite advantage. That’s how Facility Dog Quota is making a difference in the Menasha School District in Wisconsin.

Quota was paired with Rick, who serves as a School Resource Officer (SRO) for the district. He says, “I was a police officer for five years and then got transitioned into the role of SRO.” The district had a Facility Dog a few years ago, and Rick had interacted with that dog at the station occasionally. “The success we had with that program was incredible,” he shares. “It was something I thought I'd love to bring back.”

Rick explains, “I primarily work in two of our elementary schools in our district, but I'll respond to all of them if need be.” Now, he does so with a 3-year-old yellow Lab alongside him. “Officer Koda” (who uses this nickname at work) reports for duty with Rick every day at 8 a.m. at the police station, and together, they head to one or both schools for the school day. If needed at another school—including the middle school or high school—they make themselves available, as well, and Quota has visited each school in the district at some point. “She loves attention,” says Rick.

But what Quota gets from students doesn’t compare to what she gives them. Her primary skills of interrupting stim behaviors, snuggling, and “visiting” (putting her head on a lap) diffuse tense situations or actions. “She works some miracles,” Rick affirms. “Even just this morning, we had a kindergartner that didn't want to come in from recess. You know, who does? So, [I went] out there with Koda and said, ‘Oh, you want to show Koda your classroom and walk?’”

Typically, the pair assists in three to four situations each day. Another instance involved a young girl who was having trouble regulating her emotions and was throwing items in the classroom. Rick says when he arrived at the door, he spoke to her through it, saying, “‘I’ve got Officer Koda here, but we can't come inside unless you're calm and can prove that you're not going to be throwing anything more, because we don't want Koda to get hurt.’ So immediately she kind of snapped out of that, which is very surprising because she doesn't talk normally when she's in that state of escalation.” The girl responded, “I'm, done. I will stay calm.” Rick explains, “She pet Koda for a few minutes and then just without even prompting her, she started cleaning up some of the mess.” He relays that what would have normally been a half-hour incident, ended up being about three minutes. “Seeing that difference is huge!”

In the future, Rick hopes to put Quota’s exceptional basket-carrying skills to use to have her bring stickers or bookmarks to a class that has earned reading time with her as a reward. He says, “Just having the ability to use her in so many productive ways,” including allowing students to become more engaged, “has been incredible.”

Rick believes the biggest advantage of Quota’s service is “keeping kids safer and keeping escalations to a shorter amount of time and just really helping kids come out of that in a positive way.” An added bonus? “Parents can come in pretty upset at times and they tend to calm down a lot when they see Koda too.”

Quota’s calm personality is something Rick admires, yet he says, “She's definitely a different dog than what we are at home. I know that's important. I think to have people know too, they are still dogs and they still get to have fun.” Her fun includes roughhousing with the family’s 3-year-old Rottweiler and hanging out with their 11-year-old Lab/English Springer Spaniel. Additionally, Rick and his wife have a 19-month-old daughter. “We said our house is already chaos, why not make it more?” he jokes of their decision to welcome Quota.

Rick doesn’t regret the choice for one second. “She's an amazing dog,” he says, crediting the "ton of people that have definitely helped bring her to the stages where she's at." That stage of being an exceptionally loving, trusting, hard-working dog, works well for the goal Rick and others have: “We want what's best for the kids.” And right now, one of the best things for Menasha students comes in the form of a furry yellow Lab.

 

Thank you to all those who made this partnership possible:

Raisers — Margaret Duxbury DVM, DACVB
Special Thanks — Jackson Correctional Institution, Stanley Correctional Institution
Name-A-Puppy Donor — Quota International