Therapy dogs wag their tails in General Sherman
LANCASTER – General Sherman Junior High School went to the dogs last week, or rather, the dogs went to it.
Representatives from The Connection, a dog therapy group based in Lancaster with the Harcum House, brought five dogs to help a seventh-grade class improve their reading skills. The class broke into five groups with students taking turns reading to the dogs.
Student Caleb Murray said letting the dogs into the classroom was great.
"There is a lot of stuff going on around the school and it can get a little difficult sometimes," Murray said. "It's great to able to take it easy for a little while and just read."
That's exactly the attitude the founders of The Connection and General Sherman teacher Kelly Cassandra are looking for from the program.
"It's a chance for the students to read aloud in a non-judgmental atmosphere," Cassandra said. "They are learning as they read, but it is fun."
Christina Price, who founded The Connection with Judi Levicoff and Audra McMurray, said using therapy dogs in settings like this helps both the dogs and the people they are with.
"We have 19 certified dogs in the program now and go out to different libraries in Fairfield County and to schools as well as settings with elderly people," Price said.
Friday's visitors were Sara Disalvo, with Prime Time; Juli Barker, with Mika; Emily Brown-Buck, with Backer; Levicoff, with Savey; and Price, with Jackson.
Price said all the volunteers have their backgrounds checked and the dogs in the program are certified as registered therapy dogs. Levicoff said all the dogs have undergone behavioral and temperament testing. The dogs are also certified as healthy before they can enter the program.
Levicoff said the three founders met when they were getting their dogs certified as therapy animals in 2010.
"I'm a certified trainer that had run a large dog therapy operation in Pennsylvania before moving here and we all thought that we could establish one right here in Fairfield County," Levicoff said.
Cassandra found out about the organization after her own son attended a reading program at the Fairfield County District Library with the dogs.
"It was great and you could see the benefits," Cassandra said. She applied for a grant that would help pay the organization's expenses to come into the school last year.
"This year the Lancaster Public Education Foundation provided us with a second, larger grant that allows the dogs to come in twice a month," Cassandra said. "The students really enjoy their time with the dogs. I think all the teachers would like the dogs to come into their classrooms."
Price said in addition to helping people with the therapy dogs, one of the goals of The Connection was to "increase awareness that therapy dogs really do positively affect us — emotionally, physically and mentally."
Price said since they formed The Connection in 2010, they were "adopted" by the Harcum House in 2013. Harcum House is the child advocacy center in Fairfield County.
For more information on The Connection, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheConnectionBPANT or call 740-277-7605.
cburnett@lancastereaglegazette.com
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Twitter: @CarlBurnettJr