Puppies in School

Eileen Higginbotham, Resource Teacher at Prince Street Elementary, has been doing very interesting work at the school with dogs and children, and she’s started to write about this “Prince Street Puppy Project” on a new blog. Eileen’s dogs are very much a part of Oliver’s school day, and have been for several years; it’s fascinating to watch how these animals have become an important part of the school. Here’s a sample:

A few weeks back, I was with a couple of the older girls who train and I wanted KaBoom to do the leg weaving that Kannon does.  It was easy to figure out how to get her to run through the legs but having her come around to start back through the legs was just not something I could get.  The girls watched me try and watched me fail a couple of times.  Then I stopped and asked them for ideas.  We knew what we wanted the behavior to look like but we just weren’t being clear enough for KaBoom to get it.  One of the girls stepped forward, saying she had an idea.  We watched her work and, just by changing some body movements, she got the weave!!  JACKPOT!!  Then, she taught the moves to us. Soon after that, we all had a reliable weave.  Now, we have to start stringing them together!!