MANTON — There’s something about a dog in the room that seems to lighten the mood and make people feel more comfortable.
Students at Manton Consolidated Schools know this firsthand, because they get to see not just one dog every day but four if they’re lucky.
“I feel like it just makes everyone feel better,” said high school student George Coffel about being able to interact with the dogs at school.
“He makes everyone happy,” said fellow student Chase Herndon in regard to one of the dogs he sees in class on a regular basis.
Geometry teacher Randy Behrns is one of the school staff members who brings a dog with him to school three days a week. His dog, named Bear, has been coming to school with Behrns nearly his whole life.
“He was raised in this environment,” Behrns said. “The kids have become a huge part of his life. He loves the students for who they are and it’s a two-way street … I think every school should have therapy dogs.”
Manton Consolidated Schools has an abundance of therapy dogs on staff thanks to Randy’s brother, Tom, who with his wife, Sharon, trains leader dogs for blind people. Tom also is a teacher at the school and Sharon works in the superintendent’s office.
Bear was one of the dogs that Tom and Sharon trained, although he ultimately did not take to being a leader dog, mostly because he didn’t like wearing the vest and harness.
While he wasn’t cut out for being a leader dog, Bear still was highly trained and very sociable, so they decided to bring him to school to work with the kids.
Behrns said he noticed an immediate difference in the demeanor of his students when he started bringing Bear to class. He said they were more open and engaged in class, and actually excited to be there.
“The kids felt so much more at ease and comfortable,” Behrns said. “That made a more conducive atmosphere for learning … Now the kids want to come to school. They’re more willing to open up and participate.”
Dogs have a way of lowering people’s emotional barriers, Behrns said, because they do not judge them.
“A dog sees the good in everyone,” Behrns said. “The kids sense that the dog accepts them. It doesn’t matter where they came from or where they are in life.”
Tom Behrns brought the first dog to school several years ago after obtaining permission from the board of education and getting certified to have therapy dogs on campus.
During the first years of the program, Tom’s dog, Indy, worked closely with special education students and also was utilized in a reading mentorship program called “Reading with Indy.”
Indy now helps kids feel more comfortable when they see the school counselor, Emily Bender.
Bender received social-emotional training through the Wexford-Missaukee Intermediate School District to use Indy effectively in her sessions with students. She said it’s neat to see how intuitive the dog is and tuned in to the student’s moods.
When a student comes into the office upset and withdrawn, Bender said Indy immediately senses this and will gently approach the student and put his nose in their lap to comfort them.
The dog’s presence not only acts as an ice-breaker, making the student feel more at ease and willing to open up, but Bender said Indy also is able to dramatically change their mindset.
“He can be a helpful distraction,” Bender said. “If a student is having a panic attack or a fit, she can snap them out of it a little bit … shift them from back brain to front brain.”
Bender said back-brain thinking is more emotional and front-brain thinking uses higher-evolved functions such as calm logic and rational thinking.
Having dogs at school is something more and more districts are doing, although having four available every day sets Manton apart.
Bender said the staff joke about the arrival of the “dog bus,” which is the Behrns’ vehicle with multiple pooches on board.
“It’s for everyone,” Tom Behrns said about the service the dogs provide to the students and staff members, who also enjoy seeing them every day.
“To have so many dogs here is wonderful. So much better coverage.”
Every morning, one of the dogs is stationed at the entrance to the school to greet students as they walk in. Tom said even that small interaction can put a smile on a kid’s face and change the course of their whole day.
School Resource Officer Kolby Moore brings his dog, Murray, with him on his daily rounds.
Like the other dogs in the school’s program, Murray received formal therapy training.
“The kids just absolutely melt,” Moore said about students when they see Murray in the hallways and classrooms. “They swarm him.”
Moore said Murray’s presence can change a student’s perspective from upset and closed off to calm and more open to dialogue.
Talking to a school resource officer can be intimidating for some students but Moore said having Murray with him somehow makes the kids feel more comfortable about approaching him.
He said that creates a segue to develop a closer connection with students, which helps him in the performance of his duties, which include making sure the school is safe and acting as a liaison between district administrators and law enforcement when a student gets in trouble.
“It’s been really a fun ride,” Moore said about his experience working with Murray and the other therapy dogs at the school. “And when I get stressed at work, I get to pet one of these guys.”
Story Highlights • Manton Consolidated Schools currently has four therapy dogs on staff — Murray, Murphy, Indy and Bear. • The district has an abundance of therapy dogs largely thanks to teacher Tom Behrns, who with his wife, Sharon, trains leader dogs for blind people. • Students say the dogs put them in a better mood. Staff often use the dogs to make students feel more at ease and open to talking about things that are bothering them.
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