Boulder, CO: Elem school gets therapy dog to keep kids calm

Sept 30, 2018, Boulder (CO) Camera: Superior Elementary piloting therapy dog program, Boulder Prep training rescue as therapy dog http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_32172798/superior-elementary-piloting-therapy-dog-program-boulder-prep Pepper, a gentle 10-year-old Portuguese water dog, recently made the rounds at Superior Elementary School, letting enthusiastic students pet his fluffy coat and give him kisses. Pepper, a regular at the 400-student school, stayed still and calm even as student on the autism spectrum grabbed more than petted. … Superior was the first Boulder Valley school to start a therapy dog program, starting the full program last school year…. Bedford said she proposed bringing therapy dogs to the school as a way to provide social and emotional support to students…. "When kids are really having a bad day and they have time with a dog, their whole body relaxes," Bedford said. "You can just see some of that anxiety subside."…. "A dog can be very therapeutic," she said. "Dogs have a calming effect." …