White County Schools Receive New Therapy Dogs At Middle, High School

White County Schools have received two new therapy dogs for its high school and middle school.

Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said the dogs will be utilized once their training wraps-up this summer.

“They’ll live and kind of meander and roam throughout the library during the day. They’re very docile dogs, very nice and kind,” Dronebarger said. “The last few days we got these dogs into the schools with their trainers just on a limited basis, and the kids, parents, everybody was so excited. It was amazing the difference it was making in peoples’ attitudes just having them in the building.”

White County partnered with Dyersburg City Schools in West Tennessee to obtain and train the dogs. The Board of Education approved the program during their January meeting.

Webster, a Goldendoodle, will work with students at White County Middle School, while Apollo, a labradoodle, will stay at the high school. A teacher from both schools will adopt the dogs and keep them overnight.

Dronebarger said Webster and Apollo will provide a great benefit to the students of White County.

“We’re excited for the possibilities of what that can do for students that are maybe dealing with stressors in their lives,” Dronebarger said, “specific things like adverse childhood experiences, or students that are just timid about reading in front of others, but they’ll read to a dog. There’s just so many different ways about what these dogs are going to be able to help us do.”

Dronebarger expects the dogs to be at the schools full-time in late September. If successful, the district could look into adding therapy dogs at the elementary schools.