Today one of our high school students who has a companion dog visited our classroom to teach us about what Companion Dogs can do and how we should act when we meet a Companion Dog in the community or at school.
Meet Emily & Stryde
Emily uses a Dynovox to talk for her. She types in the words and the computer reads them to us. She told us about Stryde's life as he works for her. He accompanies her everywhere, on his leash, and even sleeps in her bed so he can alert her parents if she needs help in the night.
He can help her take her socks off, get a juice box from the fridge, or hand a credit card to a store clerk.
Here he shows us how he can pick up a dropped item (a marker) and give it back to Emily.
Here he is showing us his "lap" command so Emily can brush him, put his vest on, or brush his teeth (with chicken flavored toothpaste!)
Stryde is on a special diet so he stays healthy enough to, hopefully, work for Emily until he is 12 years old. After that, he retires will become her pet. Stryde's favorite snacks are carrots, peanut butter, apples, pumpkin, and green beans!
If we see a Companion Dog at school, we can wave to the dog and it's owner, or say hello, but we cannot pet it. The dog is working and we don't want to distract him. When we see Emily after school, at the park or in a store, that might be an OK time to pet Stryde, but we have to ask her for permission first.
Learning about Companion dogs was really interesting to the students and I think they learned a lot. I want to thank Emily for taking time out from her day to come and teach us!
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