Dog who helps Valley City students read to retire

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) - Junior is always looking for a hug, but he can also help students who need a little extra help reading.

Elementary School Title I teacher Alaine Toso and therapy dog Junior will retire at the end of this school year. Alaine’s been with the district for 16 years, and together the duo has been helping students with reading for the past eight.

Junior, a 10-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, started his career at the Valley City Junior High School, where Alaine taught up until this school year.

Alaine said Junior helps students when they’re reading by providing a calming effect. Research has shown that students can have higher blood pressure and higher anxiety, but when around a dog, those levels have been shown to drop, she said.

“(Students) know that he’s not going to criticize them. He’ll just lay there and pant and be a friend,” Alaine told the Valley City Times-Record.

It’s not just the kids that benefit from him. Alaine said staff members visit Junior when they need a hug or therapy.

“He calms them down too,” she said.

Junior trained for a year and is certified through Love on a Leash, a pet therapy organization based in California. Junior is not a service dog; rather, he is a therapy dog, meaning he volunteers to bring comfort and joy to those in need. Love on a Leash’s website explains that the therapy dog movement is based on the human-animal bond; the affection that dogs have for people and that people have for dogs.

“There are certain tests he has to go through,” Alaine explained. “He has to go through obedience tests and things like that.”

Alaine works with students who need a little extra help with reading. She sees five to six students at a time. Another helper to the students is Junior, who sees 35 Title I students each week.

Alaine said students ask about Junior all the time and miss him when he’s not around. Alaine said when she was gone for several days from the junior high, when she came back students saw Alaine and said, “Junior’s back!” But Alaine said, “No, I’m back.” Junior wasn’t even there that day.

“So I think they appreciate that he’s around,” she said with a smile. “I become his voice. I become invisible; It’s the dog that they see. I’ll talk, and they’ll think the dog is talking. It’s neat.”

Junior seems to know the students who need a little bit more help than the others, Alaine said.

When Junior was an 8-month-old pup, Alaine soon realized he could help students.

“I had read about reading therapy dogs and I thought that sounded like a good deal,” she said.

Alaine said, “He’s just around for everybody. His mission in life is to get as many hugs and kisses as he can.”

Junior is the first therapy dog to enter the Valley City Public School District. Therapy dogs are also common in counseling offices in schools, Alaine said.

Superintendent Dean Koppelman said during a March 16 school board meeting, when Alaine and Junior’s retirement was announced, “There were days that staff members, if they were having maybe a little difficult day, would come and see Junior. He could just have such a positive effect on people.”

Alaine and her husband Bob plan to do some traveling and grandma and grandpa things in their retirement. Bob retired as superintendent at Jamestown Public School District in 2013. Alaine, who’s taught for 35 years throughout her career, also plans to substitute in Jamestown, where she and Bob live.

Junior’s post-retirement plans are to continue some therapy work by visiting a nursing home in which Alaine’s mother resides. If allowed, Junior might visit Jamestown schools. The district had a therapy dog in the past.

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Information from: Valley City Times-Record, https://www.times-online.com