CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — One of the newest members of the Castle Rock Police Department is helping students in the classroom – and putting paw to paper in the process.
Denver7 caught up with Ru, the department’s newest therapy dog, during a visit to Meadow View Elementary School in the fall. Ru, fellow therapy dog Buttercup and their handlers – Officers David Knight and Scott Gillespie – were reading to sixth graders for the first time.
The book? Ru’s First Day, the story of a pup about to take on middle school that aims to help students manage the anxiety or nervousness they may face in a school setting.
“We wanted to be able to target some issues that specific groups of students feel,” Knight said, “whether it’s like Ru’s book [about] going into middle school, or, you know, issues in high school.”
“My favorite part of the book was probably the beginning when Ru was a little nervous,” one student told Denver7’s Adria Iraheta. “That encouraged me a little bit.”
And while the therapy dogs have been around Douglas County Schools for a few years, with Buttercup being the first, Ru’s book marks a new chapter for therapy dogs in Castle Rock trying to make the transition to middle school a little less rough.
“What stands out to me is just the smiles,” Knight said. “You can’t beat that.”
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