Originally published in Interactions, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2001

by Andrea Leigh Ptak

Pet Partners^® Tamara Franks and Golden Retriever Barnabas of Bryan, Texas, made a very big impression when they visited the students at Carver Early Childhood Elementary – a school for 4-year-olds from low-income families.

After the visit, the children were so moved by Barnabas that they began to tell teacher Sheridan Bockelmann dog stories.

Bockelmann sent some of these stories to Franks with a note expressing her appreciation of the visit:

"I hope they [the stories] will be helpful as one more example of the value of introducing a therapy dog like Barnabas into early childhood settings.

"Please note that several of the students dictating stories are in special education and speech therapy. Language development is very important for them, and dictating stories addresses many different language development goals. Barnabas' visit was the catalyst for them choosing and dictating dog stories."

In a phone conversation, Bockelmann told Franks that one child in particular who was considered non-verbal actually contributed. His response to a photo of a golden who looked much like Barnabas was, "Big dog," followed by panting sounds.

The children's stories accompanied photos the teacher had cut from magazines. Here are just a few:

• Accompanying a photo of 3 dogs playing tug-of-war with a blanket… "Three doggies were fighting over the blanket and pillow. There's 2 black dogs and the other one is gold. All the doggies went back into the house. They stopped fighting. The doggies were thirsty. The gold dog was drinking milk and the black dogs was drinking water."
• Accompanying a photo of a dog with mail in his mouth at a mailbox… "He's sitting right there doing that. He's pottying. He's getting the mail. He's going to carry it like this in his mouth. He takes it to his family."
• Accompanying a photo of a man, a little girl and a puppy… "He give the dog a pretend shot. The girl had looked at it and she said, 'no!' Her didn't want her dog to die cause he was sick. Her daddy gave him the shot. He got better."
• Accompanying a photo of a woman petting a Golden… "The doggie saying 'bow wow' to his mommy. Then mommy says, 'Barnabas.' "

Tamara was not surprised by the children's reaction. Four-year-old Barnabas had plenty of experience with pre-schoolers. In fact, he attends daycare at the First Presbyterian Church of Bryan alongside 3- and 4-year-old human children!

A recent article in The Eagle, Bryan's newspaper, tells about Barnabas' experiences as a daycare attendee:

Franks was looking for a place where Barnabas could be with people while she worked at her job as a lecturer at Texas A & M University.

The Center had reservations at first, since Barnabas is larger than any of the children. Center Director Debbie Almand noted, "We were concerned about how parents might feel if they might have children who aren't comfortable around dogs." These reservations disappeared when she met Barnabas and learned about his Pet Partners training.

Now Barnabas is a welcome sight in all the classrooms. The children cuddle with him at story time, and vie to be his partner at nap time. "Sometimes we have children who have a hard time getting to sleep…but when Barnabas lays next to them, they are out like a light," says Almand.

She continued, "If we have a child who is upset or aggressive, we give them Barnabas' brush. The repetitive motion of brushing the dog often calms them right down."

The children had a lot of positive comments about Barnabas as well:

"He doesn't jump on us because we like him and he likes us," said 4-year-old Hannah Parker. When he comes outside with us it is funny to watch him rub his back on the grass."

"He plays catch, and how high you throw the ball is how high he jumps. He makes it [school] funner," said Angela Criaco, 4.

Four-year-old Cullen Turney tells how Barnabas participates in class activities. "When we paint, his tail gets on the pictures when he walks by. He paints too!"

Barnabas with the class of 2000-2001 at First Presbyterian Children's Center