Puppy Love = Puppy Lab
By Joe R. Lock
When Mulberry High School agriculture teacher Sherryl Erdman acquired two
Labrador Retriever puppies in January of 2001, she was in quite a quandary as to
what to do with the puppies during the day while she was teaching school. Sure,
puppy day care was available, but that can be very expensive. The puppies could
also be left at home in the crate as many people choose to do, however, Sherryl
just did not want to leave them at home alone all day.
Sherryl also
taught one class of agriculture to special education students. This gave her an
idea. She approached Beth Athans, the school's teacher of the mentally
handicapped, and asked her if she would consider raising the Lab pups in school
as a project for the special students. Beth thought this was a great idea and
the two of them sat down and decided how they would coordinate the project. Beth
and Sherryl both realized that the project would be more than just a babysitting
service for the dogs. The project would also be a learning experience for the
students. First, they would have to devise several lesson plans, and the plans
would have to cover a spectrum of several different academic areas. Next, the
project had to be approved by Principal George Hatch, which was not a problem at
all, as Mr. Hatch thought it was a great idea.
A section of Beth's
classroom was fenced off and doggy sleep pads and newspapers were put in place.
The first week was mainly a socialization time for the dogs and a get acquainted
time for the students. It did not take long for the rest of the school to learn
about the presence of Leo, the yellow male Lab, and littermate Sadie, the
chocolate female, as Beth's classroom was now getting many visitors. However,
this was a good thing. Regular students were now socializing and working with
the special students by visiting and walking the dogs together around the
campus. Beth's class had the pups leash trained and house broken in a short
time.
The dogs became very protective of the special kids and they would
bark and growl at an unknown visitor. Some students gained a new confidence by
being entrusted with the responsibility of feeding, watering, brushing, and
walking the dogs. The students could see the instant results of their efforts
just in the grateful wag of a tail. "Some of these kids just don't have many
positive things in their lives. The dogs have given them something positive,"
Beth told me.
The students also got some practical math lessons, as they
would measure their growth over several months. The kids would measure the dog's
height, length of body, length of tail, weight, etc., and record it. They were
amazed at the changes they were observing and recording.
The dogs now reside
at Sherryl Erdman's home in Lakeland, Florida. Sherryl and her son Tim have
trained them to run in CKC sanctioned retriever hunt tests and so far the dogs
have done quite well. In fact, Leo should earn a title in the Novice Retriever
class sometime next year, with Sadie not too far behind.
If one were to
say to Beth Athans or Sheryl Erdman, "If those dogs only knew how much they
helped a group of handicapped kids...” they would both just look at you, smile,
and say in unison, "They DO!"
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