http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7030000/newsid_7036000/7036001.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&nol_storyid=7036001&news=1

Thoughts?

Several, but non of them are good. What if the puppy falls off the tables? How can that help when what the puppy will do is just distract from the lesson? The children cannot control the puppy and even when they pick it up they could drop it. I am all for schools who allow a trained person to come along and give a talk about animal care but cannot see the benefits of this at all.

I am all for animals in schools - we had budgies and hamsters and fish...

Im even all for sensible adult dogs in schools, they can and do teach children a lot about caring for an animal, being responsible for someone other than themselves etc etc...

I really do fail to see what this puppy can teach the children if shes just wandering around on the table tops.. although i do wonder if that was just for the cameras and really she spends time in a puppy pen somewhere in a corner.

I certainly wouldnt allow MY puppy to be wandering around on table tops (but then i suspect even the very intellectually challenged would realise that teaching a deerhound to walk around on tables is a Bad Plan :D)

I was cringing at her sliding around on the shiny table and worried she may fall...

Brilliant idea!

Lessons are no longer boring,
The Children are also learning to love and care for another living thing, which many children who do not have animals do not get the chance to do,
It teaches them responsibility,
Cuddling a pet is the best thing to make any of us feel good,
Everyone feels loved by the pup and so is equal,
I bet they enjoy going to school. :-)

My wife is a teacher at an infants school and once a year they have an animals week where pets can be bought into the school (by prior agreement).  My wife takes our dog a GR (far too big for table tops :D) as an example of a pet dog.  So the kids get to see and hold lots of different pets (and other animals). 

I don't see why the class should not have a 'pet' dog as long as it is not too disruptive and of course as long as the dog is happy there.  It would teach the kids some valuable lessons.

I'd be worried for the pup, not only on that table, but being passed from child to child, handled awkwardly, perhaps dropped. And the over-excitement when it has its hyper moments ... bad enough in a family home, but I'm not sure how much learning the children will be doing during the manic moments. A couple of guinea pigs in a pen would teach them about caring and be less of a distraction.

We can only hope you're right, Em, and that it spends most of lesson time confined.

I would expect that the puppy is not on the table for much of the lessons, ;-) I also doubt it would fall off as the table has a body and pair of hands around the whole of it. These are not reception children, I am sure the teacher has already instructed these children on how to handle the pup and treat it etc and is also in the room to supervise.

It has been proven over and over again, that many children drift off in lessons, that many fidget, that to many just sitting still and listening is extremely difficult, sometimes because they are bored, too intelligent so drift, ADHD, or behind, for all of these things stroking a pup whilst listening will be a benefit IMO, we can all do two things at once, and many actually need to.

The pup will be loved, if over excited I'm sure will be put in a pen and have quiet times, to me there are more positives than negatives here. :-)

When I was to have a dog in school..it would have made life feel wort living. I'd have had something to look forward to and a reason for going to school... but all I would have heard and seen in my class time was the dog and nothing else and I would have day dreamed about him being mine to be hidden at home with me and be my friend and keep me safe .  .....mind you I bet only the bullies would have had access to the dog and I'd probably would have had to pretend I wasn't interested and just sit and watch from a distance maybe with my sketch book drawing away and imagining having a turn at holding the puppy. I don't actually think school can be a good place for kids who do not already have happy privileged lives. There needs to be a much deeper change.... a much bigger rethink into understanding children and their backgrounds and meeting their actual needs and bringing in teachers who faced the differing types of domestic tragedies and learning blocks and disabilities that hinder some children rather than a dog. But a dog is better than nothing and if one can bring a little light into a life even as a child observes the pup from a corner of a room then it is good.  It would be good to see much more use of dogs in school and with children as a whole as therapy dogs. I'd never be a child again! lol! Thank God we grow up!

Do you not think that, because only one child will be able to stroke the pup at a time, all the others, the "many children (who) drift off in lessons, that many fidget, that to many just sitting still and listening is extremely difficult, sometimes because they are bored, too intelligent so drift, ADHD, or behind" will feel left out and resentful that it's not 'their turn' with the pup, and will be concentrating even less on the teacher?

and resentful that it's not 'their turn' with the pup, and will be concentrating even less on the teacher?


Good Point!

It is difficult as we only see a small clip of the school day, but I would imagine that the teacher would not just pop the pup on the one table, each table has many children on it, it is not the two by two desks that we have in the upper schools, I would think that each table would get a fair share of puppy time.

I would also expect that the pup is only free in the classroom during oral lessons, once it gets down to written work a child would need to fully concentrate.

But would have the puppy to look at and watch in it's pen during the lesson.

Imagine how wonderful this pup will be when an adult, the dog will have a whole school of children to tend to it's every need and it will bring much joy to many there. The dog will happily adapt into school life and the children will come to treat it as part of the school.

When The Boy was at junior school the headmistress used to take her pup in to school, but the pup stayed in the staff room during lessons unless it was actually being used as part of the lesson. They'd weigh the pup each week, and do various types of graphs and charts to monitor its growth. They got to play with the pup at breaktimes. :)

A teacher at our primary school many moons ago had a Kelpie in class with him. It used to herd the kids! I used to wish I was in his class so we could see the dog. Another teacher used to bring a black poodle every day. Of course this was in pre-nanny state britain days, before everyone became terrified of being sued. I   wonder that there are no kids with 'allergies' in the class whose parents are creating merry h*ll about the dog being there :rolleyes:

I doubt very much that it is on the desk during the lessons.  I think it's a great idea if the dog was in certain classes once a week etc.  I also remember the days when we were allowed to take our dogs etc in to do talks on them.  Bet this isn't allowed very often nowadays with the anti-dog brigade! 

When I had a litter, I e-mailed my youngest son's school pictures of our litter on a weekly basis, most of the children (and staff) had never seen pups from this young age and enjoyed the updates. When the pups were 7 weeks old we asked the new families of two of the pups if they would mind us taking their pups (after all I was only babysitting their pups) into show the children, it was however not allowed by the head of the school, health and safety was quoted, it really was such a shame for everyone.
Eavie