Forgo the stuffy couch, the passive writing on clipboards and the carefully crafted questions. Highland Park’s newest therapists have four legs, fur, and a quiet presence that calms students. Lassie and Piper, the new therapy dogs, embrace the roles as new mental health resources.
“[Lassie and Piper are] here to help people relax and soothe them in high stress situations,” School Resource Officer Michael Bridgewater said.
Lassie and Piper were first introduced the week before finals in Dec., since then they have been slowly implemented into the daily life of students. Despite only being employed for a few months, Lassie and Piper have had significant impacts.
“There’s a lot of emotional regulation that comes with it, it can really help students with stress levels, anxiety levels and anger management,” Personal Counselor Christen Armer said, “I’ve seen that happen, if somebody’s already escalated or feeling angry or frustrated, the dog comes in and their whole demeanor changes.”
Both dogs can be seen greeting students at the student entrance. Piper stays with Chief Mark Rowden, sticking by his side and hanging out in his office. Lassie resides with Bridgewater, patrolling the hallways as well as working with 18 plus and special needs students.
“With 18 plus kids, being able to interact with the dogs on a weekly basis kind of gives them a job and teaches them responsibility and some skills. They get a chance to deal with them every day,” Bridgewater said. “…it just brightens their day.”
These dogs were trained by Hilton Butler in Oklahoma, their impressive training and breed made them prime candidates.
“We wanted a bernedoodle because the Bernese Mountain Dog have natural tendencies toward this type of work, the doodle part is because we wanted a hypoallergenic dog,” Rowden said, “We vetted the dog, you have to test their temperament and their capabilities before they are able to be trained. We were very fortunate in the fact that their siblings, they’re half sisters.”
This program emerged in response to the Camp Mystic tragedy, where Rowden and other first responders were called in. Therapy dogs were brought in to comfort the families and give support to the officers.
“On their collar, they have a tag that has [their name] on one side, and then it has the initials of our six girls we lost,” Rowden said, “[Additionally] their names are Scots related, Piper is is for the bagpipe and Lassie, as in lads and lassies.”
This gives homage to the young girls, and the names embrace the dogs into HP culture. Funded by La Fiesta de las Seis Banderas and the Education Foundation, the dogs bring ease into students’ lives.
“Therapy dogs are a good icebreaker. Sometimes for students that have difficulty opening up or starting a conversation or just kind of expressing themselves, it’s a good easy connection,” Personal Counselor Michelle Altom said, “Initially, it’s an excuse also to come to a counselor, it [the dogs] brings people to you. If you’ve got a dog there, the students start petting them, [it’s] relaxing the nervous system.”
The simple act of being near a dog allows vulnerability and security. While the dogs stay primarily in the high school, they are also available to the district and community.
“These dogs are not just available to the schools, they’re available to the community as a whole,” Rowden said, “because if there’s a tragic situation that occurs in the camp in the city or the town, we could respond to those situations to be able to help out with those as well as region wide, throughout the DFW area.”
