You lazily stretch, yawn, and get out of bed. You head to the kitchen for a good breakfast and get in the car to head to work. It's a cloudy day, looks like rain, but you don't care. You can't wait to get to work. It's your favorite thing! You're greeted by fellow staff members and dozens of children before school even starts.
Today you'll sit with a crying little girl until she calms down. Then it's Story Time and you listen quietly, not judging, as a little boy struggles to read without stuttering. After lunch it's time for an Assembly and you sit in a section with the kids that have a hard time with the noise. You get to go back to the office to relax before it's time to sit at the school exit where all the kids wave or throw you a Peace sign as they board the buses.
Some days are uneventful...simple story time or walking the halls to show everyone that you are there for them...but there are other days that your presence is extra special. Grief counselling is one of those days, or when there's a major meltdown by a child and you can calm them when no one else can. Many times it's the staff you help even when you don't know that you do.
This is the magic of a Facility Dog.
From Wyandotte Elementary School regarding their Facility Dog “Cash”…
“Cash, our facility dog, is a valuable part of the culture at Wyandotte Elementary. Each morning with an office handler, Cash greets our students to start their day of learning in a positive way! Cash is in the office available throughout the day for sensory breaks, partner reading, to go to quiet activities in the classrooms and many other impactful situations. We love our facility dog and we know that he has made a positive learning experience for our students.”
Cash was our first Facility Dog to be placed and he’s set the standard for us. He was made for this job. He is calm, quiet, and patient with the children.
We frequently take our Service Dogs in Training to local schools and seeing their impact firsthand is amazing beyond description.
This is the feedback we got after visiting a local school…
“Teachers reported better behavior and attention while in the classroom and an overall calmness.”
Facility Dogs aren’t just for schools. Think of all the places that are stressful to kids and adults alike…dentist offices, hospital waiting rooms, therapy offices, colleges, Court rooms, doctor’s offices, counsellors, and businesses with heavy workloads for their staff.
Deputy Timothy Gondeck and his Canine Advocate/Therapy Dog Baxter work in the Cass County Michigan Court Rooms assisting during trials and sentencing. Deputy Gondeck trained Baxter himself through our Aspiring Therapy Dog Program found here.
“This morning a staff member from probate court came to my office. She informed me that there was an Autistic child that was crying and was generally having a bad time. She asked if Baxter might be able to help. When Baxter and I came out of the office you could hear him, and he was not happy. The moment that he saw Baxter everything stopped. Baxter could barely contain his joy in seeing this little boy and sat in the doorway frantically wagging his tail and wiggling! Although he was reluctant to pet Baxter, he immediately started laughing and jumping up and down, and no more crying! During our time with this little boy Baxter was tasked with being patient with a little boy who was at times laughing and squealing loudly, running around and jumping up and down erratically. Baxter took all of it in stride, due to his training! To see Baxter’s impact in a situation where even his mother was having a difficult time with her son proves that this works! “
You can follow Baxter’s Facebook Page here.
The benefits of a well trained Facility Dog are almost immeasurable.
We offer Facility Dogs to organizations in two ways. You can purchase a Facility Dog that's been hand picked for you based on the information you give us. Or, for a small fee, we can make scheduled visits to your organization with our current Therapy Dog Team (limited to a one hour drive of our training facility). Our Facility Dogs are $12,000 for organizations with in one hour of our training facility located in Elkhart, IN. Facility Therapy Dogs further than one hour from our training facility in Elkhart, IN are $15,000.
The Process
While most of our dogs are purebred labs and standard poodles we will sometimes use poodle/golden retriever mixes. Please fill out the form below and submit. We will go over it and reach out via email or phone call with any further questions. At that point we will decide if we have a dog already trained that will fit your needs or if we need to find one. There is a 25% non refundable deposit required to either hold a dog we currently have or begin the search for your dog. If we have to search for a dog it can take Eighteen months to twenty four months to complete the training process once we receive the dog. We ask that you please be patient with the process. We want to be sure your dog is rock solid in obedience and public access for you!