After success in PSD schools, Northern Colorado therapy dog program seeks local volunteers

Alphie may be part Chihuahua, part rat terrier and an unknown medley of other breeds, but when the 3-year-old therapy dog walks into Laurel Elementary School on Monday afternoons, he's all celebrity.

Students stopped as he sauntered through the Fort Collins school's hallways in a purple vest during a mid-December visit.

"That's Alphie," one girl told her friend as they watched the little dog round the corner and disappear into a small room.

Inside, the space was warm and colorful, filled with shiny posters, shelves of word games, a cozy reading corner and soon two of Alphie's favorite little people — a preschooler and kindergartener who have each been meeting the dog for weekly one-on-one animal-assisted therapy sessions.

Alphie is one of roughly 30 dogs who volunteer across Northern Colorado as part of Caring Canines, a local nonprofit therapy dog program that deploys its volunteer dog teams into area schools, libraries, memory care centers and one youth correctional center, according to Caring Canines Director Sylvia Stribling.

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Founded in 2017, the program has grown to offer everything from dog-assisted reading sessions at libraries to visits at schools that have experienced a recent loss and, of course, regular one-on-one sessions like those at Laurel — where students get to learn training commands, grow their self-confidence and communication skills and meet goals set by the district's occupational therapists and school psychologists, Stribling said.

“We’ve just seen kids really push through some of their barriers in order to do something because they connect, they bond with the dog," said Whitney Bennett-Clear, Poudre School District's assistant director of integrated services.

After PSD received nearly $200,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds — part of a federal program born in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — it's been able to bring more Caring Canines dogs into its schools, specifically using the program to beef up its social and emotional services for students with disabilities, according to Bennett-Clear.

Now, those added services have driven up demand for Caring Canines visits across the district.

"The word is out," Bennett-Clear said.

As of mid-November, Caring Canines dogs were in 13 PSD schools with two more schools on the program's waitlist.

"It’s only been positive. That’s why I keep giving her more schools," Bennett-Clear said, gesturing toward Stribling during an interview last month in PSD's administration building.

“We just can’t get enough volunteers," Stribling said. "The demand is so great.”

With roughly 30 active volunteer dog teams — roughly half of what she would hope to have — Stribling said Caring Canines is maxed out. It's so desperate for volunteers that Stribling said she's constantly in recruitment mode.

"I almost turned my car around once after seeing a dog walking right on pace with its owner," Stribling said.

For now, until Caring Canines can bring more volunteers into the fold, Stribling said her current dog teams are rising to the occasion as demand for their services grows.

Alphie and his owner, Sally Gallop, are among them, making visits to Laurel, Lopez and Cache la Poudre Elementary Schools every week.

After adopting Alphie from Animal Friends Alliance more than two years ago, Gallop said she got him involved in Caring Canines after seeing how he behaved with her best friend's then-1-year-old daughter.

During a visit with the baby, she grabbed onto Alphie's face and wouldn't let go. Gallop and her friend rushed to pry Alphie loose from her tiny hands, but he remained cool as a cucumber — no growling, nipping or really any reaction at all, Gallop said.

Within minutes, he was back at the baby's side and now they're the best of friends, Gallop said, holding up a picture of the two of them watching squirrels from a picture window.

After Gallop contacted Caring Canines, Alphie was run through the program's multistep vetting process, starting with a pre-evaluation with a Caring Canines trainer, Stribling said.

As long as a dog is at least 18 months old and has the right temperament — "one that's willing to learn, is calm and loves people," Stribling said — it's evaluated again before going through a Caring Canines orientation and a seven-week training class. Training fees can range from $195 to $400 if a dog needs additional obedience classes, Stribling said. A portion of those fees is given back to the volunteer after their dog passes the program's final evaluation.

If the dog passes its final evaluation, it's insured through Caring Canines and assigned to one of the program's participating sites. Dog owners who end up assigned to a PSD school must also go through the district's volunteer application process, which includes a background check.

Caring Canines dogs can come in any breed or size, ranging from the small but mighty Dorothy Rae, a sassy 6-year-old Yorkie-poo, to Lily, a giant Newfoundland.

"We just want sweet, loving dogs that like being around people — children especially,” Stribling said.

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"Dogs are so nonjudgmental and they’re so loving to anyone. So many of the people that we work with — adults and children — have been judged too harshly over their lives, and some of them may not have had the best as far as social interactions and love," she said. "Everybody needs love, and these dogs give it unconditionally.”

Walking out of PSD's' administration building last month, Stribling continued to sing the praises of Caring Canines and what she's seen the organization do in her two years as its director.

Before leaving, though, she popped into Superintendent Brian Kingsley's office, where his new 14-week-old golden mountain dog, River, was visiting.

The sweet pup looked up at Stribling and in no time she was reaching into her purse for a business card, handing it off to a staff member in Kingsley's office.

If River ever wants to become a therapy dog, Stribling knows just the program.

Want to get involved in Caring Canines?

See if your dog would be a good fit for its therapy program by visiting caringcaninescolorado.org/volunteering.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: After success in PSD, therapy dog program seeking more volunteers