Students in Becky Holmen's class at Westchester Intermediate take time to learn about service dogs and how they can help in the community.
Dino is a therapy dog at Belzer Middle School in Indianapolis. He is an emotional companion for students who are having trouble in school or who need someone to talk to besides an adult. Students open up to Dino when they may be too embarrassed or shy to talk to an adult. During the week the class talked about disabilities and how a dog can be used to help people complete every day tasks like turning on lights or carrying school books.
The students learned that dogs have to go to special dog school to be trained and that not every dog can be trained to be a service dog.
Pictured with Dino are, front, left to right, Tyler Gallagher, Emma McCoy, Marty McLaughlin and Devin DaVaney. Back row, teacher Becky Holmen, Lily Moffatt, Jessica Stever, Jimmy Clark, Perry Rigsby, Brandon Jamison and Dustin Hawkins. (Duneland Schools photo by Bridget Martinson)