“A lot of kids may be shy and don’t have great relationships with other children and the dogs make them a little more outgoing than they usually are,” Principal Sherry Cross said.
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Rodrigue was recently awarded the 4-H Innovator Award from the state of Ohio for her work. She said she’s proud of the award and happy that she has been able to affect so many children through her work.
Dogs have a way of building students self-confidence, Rodrigue said, and making them more independent.
“The biggest thing the dog offers the kids is an ‘I can do this’ (attitude),” Rodrigue said. “Kids know with the dogs that they can tell them to do things, they can pet them and there is no judgment.”
The dogs have also made there way around all classrooms at Fulton this year. They were seen this week listening while students at the school read aloud.
“The dogs will sit and listen while the kids read,” Rodrigue said. “The dogs are non-judgmental. If you say something wrong or skip a line, he isn’t going to care.”
The dog just wants the students to keep reading, she said.
The pets were also seen this week being walked down the hall by students who use wheelchairs.
“The goal with the kids is to make them feel good,” Rodrigue said. “To make them feel a different part of the school. They can come down in the hallway with the dog and they feel like they are doing it alone.”
The program is important for Fulton Elementary, Cross said.
“Schools need to enlist the help of their community in order to meet the needs of all their children because everyone is different,” she said. “We have to work with the children and work with them socially emotionally, mentally and academically in order for them to become a full citizen.”
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