Assistance Dog Pepper

Wauchope Public School student Jaziah Taylor-Chilly, 8, said he often wrote stories and drew pictures about playing with Pepper.

“When I can’t make a sentence about something, I can always make a sentence about Pepper,” he said.

“When I read to Pepper she sits there and listens.”

Assistance Dogs Australia CEO Richard Lord said there is an increase in the awareness of the benefits of therapy dogs in schools.

“We’ve been organising therapy dogs at schools for about seven or eight years now,” he said.

“It’s up to schools to get interested in it and more do seem to be interested when they see the results from other schools.

“Educational support dogs can help situations involving special needs, autism, post-traumatic stress or comfort crime victims in court.

“The dogs can provide support to students in a number of ways, including offering emotional support, recognising signs of anxiety, and helping improve concentration and communication skills as well as reducing the incidence of antisocial behaviour and bullying.

“We have placed 18 working dogs in NSW north coast for people living with PTSD, families with kids with utism and those who require a wheelchair for mobility. We have 150 dogs working across Australia

“It’s not just bringing a dog into a classroom. It’s about having a trained therapy dog through a certified provider to cover the duty of care to the kids, the school and the dog itself.

Hastings Secondary College Westport Campus supported learning students are also visited by a therapy dog twice a week.