A few weeks ago a new staff member was added to Littleton, and it happens to be one with four legs. Mental health specialist Julia Kuttler is now the handler of the school’s mental health dog, Dottie Lou.
Dottie is a two year old rescue that now serves as our mental health dog. As of now she will only be in the building on Tuesdays, but there are hopes of it becoming twice a week later on in the school year.
While it’s exciting to have a therapy dog in the school, it’s important for students to remember that Dottie is a therapy dog, not a service dog.
“A service dog is specially trained to provide services for a person with a disability”, Ms. Kuttler stated. Service dogs can be for people who are blind, or they can be paired with someone that may have trauma, helping them to sleep through the night by providing comfort. Therapy dogs are also meant to provide comfort but in a different way. Therapy dogs “are trained in basic obedience but most of what they do comes down to temperament”. They are just meant to be there as a type of comfort when people need it.
On that note, not every dog is qualified to be a therapy dog. The training that a candidate undergoes is up to the owner, but Dottie specifically had to take a six week course to train in basic obedience, as well as do private lessons with a dog trainer to ensure a good temperament. She also took a standardized test that future therapy dogs are required to take.
When asked what she hopes students will know about Dottie, Ms. Kuttler stated that “Therapy dogs are dogs first, they’re pets first”. Dottie is a regular dog that happens to be specially trained. Service dogs are highly trained to not have extreme reactions to things that could scare them but if Dottie wakes up suddenly and barks, or gets scared of something outside that is completely normal because she’s a dog first, even though she may be a therapy dog.
On a regular school day, Dottie hangs out in the counseling offices and says hi to anyone who stops by. If you have an off period or want to stop by during lunch, visiting her is a great way to spend free time and put a smile on your face.
