MADISON TOWNSHIP — Jodie Newberry likes to spend her breaks walking the halls of Madison South Elementary with Wyatt, her 3-year-old mini goldendoodle.
That’s how she encountered a first grade girl who was struggling with a math paper. The student was getting frustrated, so her teacher suggested she step outside and walk down the hallway for a quick break.
“She sees me, and she’s like, ‘I really could use a pet from Wyatt,'” recalled Newberry, a Title I Reading teacher at Madison South. “So she pets him and then she tells me that she was having a really hard time on her math paper.”
Newberry invited the girl to walk a bit with her and Wyatt. The girl practiced a few commands, showing off how to make him sit.
“We made her laugh and she’s like, ‘Oh, Wyatt, you make me feel so much better. I think I could go tackle that math paper today,” Newberry said with a laugh.
Stories like that don’t happen every day, but they happen often. Each one is a reminder of the powerful impact a dog can have.
Wyatt, a certified therapy dog, has been coming to Madison South since he was about 14 months old.
He often serves as an icebreaker and stress reliever for students and teachers alike.
“He’s been great for the kids. My goal was he would help some of them with calming strategies,” Newberry said. “I think the kids talk to me more because of (Wyatt). They’re more comfortable approaching me.”
Reading to Wyatt provides low stress practice for struggling readers
At the beginning of her career, Newberry brought in her golden retriever every Friday as a reward for good behavior.
“I saw the benefits because the kids would just come up and tell him things that I hadn’t heard all week long,” she recalled.
The idea was born 30 years ago when Newberry was a sixth-grade teacher. The rules about having dogs in school were more relaxed.
Newberry said she always wanted to bring her dogs back into the classroom, but didn’t have the time to train them for a classroom environment until her own kids were older.
Wyatt, on the other hand, went through nearly a year of training to become a therapy dog, including obedience classes and a certification process.
The pup spends most of his days in Newberry’s classroom, where she works with about 40 kids in small groups. Her students range from kindergarten to fourth grade, but all of them are there to get extra help with reading.
Since Wyatt has joined her, she’s seen kids who normally don’t want to read argue over who can read to him.
“We usually tend to leave the last couple minutes at the end (for Wyatt),” she said. “They help often with giving him treats and it gives them a sense of purpose.”
But Newberry also tries to get Wyatt out and about to see all students. They greet incoming scholars in the morning. They stop by for classroom visits. They say hello during recess.
“I try to rotate around the building,” she said. “This morning, I had not been out in third grade playground for a while and I heard about it.”
‘Wyatt is here to add to our learning’
Wyatt often dresses up for spirit days, sporting pajamas, ugly sweaters and sports team memorabilia.
The students’ affection for him is evident in Newberry’s room, where hand-made birthday cards and Wyatt-themed short stories are taped to an easel. Staff members love him,too.
Several, like third-grade teacher Melissa Parish, keep treats in their desk for him.
“The staff loves Wyatt as much as the kids,” Parish said. “It’s nice to see the effect that he has around the kids.
“You can see their change in demeanor.”
Obedience training and vaccinations are requirements for all therapy dogs, but Newberry said dogs must also have the right temperament — calm, approachable and non-reactive.
While Wyatt’s presence is fun, Newberry has also set clear boundaries around interacting with him.
Students must ask before petting him. They must use hand sanitizer first, since his fur can harbor germs just like other surfaces around the school. Petting him and giving him treats are privileges that occur during break times.
“My famous phrase is that Wyatt is here to add to our learning, not take away our learning,” she said.