Alley, Bean, Oscar and Santo at home in Oxford

By Don Rush

Four-footed creatures with fur, fangs and claws prowl the hallways and classrooms at both Oxford High and Oxford Middle schools. And if you ask most students and staff, they’ll say it’s a good thing. The Oxford Wildcat Pack includes 12 certified facility therapy dogs in full; however, four dogs are working full time at the secondary level, three dogs are placed in Elementary buildings as they continue their training, and five dogs are expected to come home this Spring. These dogs have been making smiles with every wag of their tails.

The therapy dog program grew out of the school district’s crisis recovery plan that followed the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting tragedy. Therapy dogs here and across the nation have provided students and staff with comfort and support. They reduce stress and provide a sense of connection in difficult situations.

In the Oxford School District, the program is led by Recovery Coordinator, Laura Azoni. She said the dogs at the secondary level, Alley, Bean, Oscar, and Santo, were trained with their primary handlers, who adopt them into their own homes as host families for the district. The primary handlers are staff members who bring their canine-friends to school each day to interact with students. The Oxford Wildcat Pack dogs are owned by the district. If a handler leaves the district, the dog must stay with the district, and a new primary handler will be chosen for the dog. All handlers must be Oxford Employees.

According to Oxford Middle School counselor and the District’s lead primary handler, Katelyn Malburg, the Oxford Wildcat Pack’s goal is to help create and maintain a comfortable, safe, and happy environment. “Research has shown having a therapy dog program in the educational environment can support student’s social-emotional learning, improve school attendance, increase student’s self-confidence, and help students build better relationship skills with peers and adults. There are also many studies that have shown students’ reading abilities increase through the support of therapy dogs,” she said.

The Oxford Wildcat Pack attend school every day. The dogs greet students and staff in the hallways, visit classrooms, assist students who may need extra support, and attend school and community events.

OHS teacher Brian Edwards and his family care for Alley (Al, for short), a seven-month-old miniature AussieDoodle. Bean is a two-year-old English black lab and has a home with the family of Dana Brewer, the Director of the Oxford Dance Conservatory and English Language Arts Teacher. Oscar, a year old mini Goldendoodle, has found a home with OMS counselor Malburg. Special education teacher Julie Beebe’s family has welcomed Santo, a 10-month-old yellow lab into their home.

“The dogs go through extensive training before we even meet them, but training and bonding started on the day we met. Once home, we continue to go to training together for at least a few weeks, and then whenever it is needed,” Brewer said of Bean. “We actually found out Bean had an issue with her back about two months after she came home with us which had gone undetected until she played extra hard one day and I noticed something was wrong. We were so worried she would not be able to carry on as a therapy dog, but after spending time with the amazing veterinarians at Parker Veterinary Clinic, we determined that with special care and attention, Bean will have a great career. She has shown no signs of an issue since. There was no way this girl was going to retire–she is more excited when she hears ‘time to go to work!’ than any human on earth.”

The Brewer family and Bean have been together since August. “We are known for being a goofy, fun-loving family, and Bean fits right in because she is always doing something weird and making us laugh. We are also a big outdoors family, so Bean had a great time this summer going canoeing and camping.”

Life at home for the Bebe family (her husband, two daughters, Jordyn and Caylee and three other dogs, Spencer, Jackson and Paige) has been fun since Santo came into their life four months ago. “Santo bonded very quickly with everyone in our family. Santo runs upstairs to greet the other dogs when he gets home from school. He will run around looking for Caylee and Jordyn if he doesn’t see them. He has been a great addition to our family, and we feel very lucky to have him.”

Malburg agreed with Beebe when asked about their therapy dog Oscar. Oscar has been with her family (her husband and two Golden Retrievers, Tucker and Chip) since January. “Oscar has not only bonded with me, but he loves my husband and dogs. When Oscar comes home from school, he is so happy to see and play with his ‘brothers.’ He has been the biggest blessing in our family,” she said.

The dogs have a schedule to keep, according to OHS teacher Edwards, and they are not always with their staff handler or family. “Al comes to work with me every day. He typically spends two class periods with me and the other four with counselors while they work with students in a variety of ways. If things are slow in the counseling office, they take him to visit classrooms.”

All primary handlers say the response from students and staff has been extremely positive.

“Everyone who sees Santo, loves him. I hear while walking down the hallway “Santo” and the students quickly run over to him. With Santo being a bigger dog, students will just touch him while passing by and smile,” Beebe said.

Malburg agreed. “There has not been a day where Oscar has not brought a smile to a student’s face. Oscar is so hard not to love, and our building loves him so much.”

So did Edwards when asked about Alley. “Students love him. Anyone who makes eye-contact immediately smiles, and he probably to blame for a few tardies here and there. Students want to pet, hug and take selfies with him.”

If the primary handlers stay in the district during the dog’s working years, they become a permanent member of the handler’s family when they retire from the program. When asked, all handlers have stated that their therapy dogs will remain a part of their own family’s home life.

“Absolutely,” Brewer said of Bean. “When we found out Bean had an issue with her back, I was given the option of having her retire and becoming the handler for another dog (her name is Hope and she will be joining us at OHS in the spring), but there was no way I could let her go. We knew she was meant to be with us the moment we met her.”

And for fun, here are some things students might not have known about the individuals of the Oxford Wildcat Pack.

Bean: “Sometimes Bean’s best buddies are too busy working to play, so she has discovered that if she strategically places her ball in their backpacks, they have to take it out eventually. Then she looks at them like, ‘well, you might as well throw it now!’ She is also known for her fondness of army crawling around the room (she does it in meetings to ‘sneak’ over to Al and Santo). She also has an ever-growing wardrobe, and she gets excited when I dress her up.”

Santo: “One day while Santo was resting, I gave him some water to drink. I turned around and he was drinking from the laying down position. A few minutes later I looked at him and he was asleep in his empty water bowl. Now, whenever he lays down, he will put his head on his bowl and sleep. He will sometimes just put his paws on it like he is afraid it might move. Santo also loves to have his belly rubbed. He will just lay in the hallway during passing time and when people start to pet him, he will roll over basically asking for his belly to be rubbed. Once, he had another teacher come over and lay on the floor with him while rubbing his belly.”

Oscar: “Oscar has helped so many students when their emotions are heightened. There was a student who was very upset and was not able to regulate his emotions to a calm state. This student has a special bond with Oscar. Oscar and I came up to the classroom, and before Oscar entered the room, I explained to the student that Oscar is here to help, but he has to be in a safe environment in order to come in to give them comfort. The student immediately took some deep breaths and sat on the classroom floor. Oscar came in and sat right in the student’s lap. Within seconds, the student was able to reach a calm state by just having Oscar’s presence with him. It truly brought tears to my eyes. The presence of Oscar is so powerful!”

Alley: “He is skilled at hunting bugs in the courtyard, specifically crickets and grasshoppers. He pounces on them and sometimes eats them. Something a little more heartfelt… we saw a student who looked like she was having a rough day, and it was only the third hour. Al was walking back to class from counseling, and we stopped so she could pet him for a few minutes. Later in the day we saw her again and she squatted down next to him and said, ‘Thank you, you made my day.’”