A School's Best Friend

Meet Anderson’s newest addition, Marko the facility dog

Meet the newest raptor at Anderson High School, Marko. Marko is a two- year-old golden retriever and lab mix facility dog who is stationed at Anderson to greet and support students.

Although having a facility dog is new at Anderson, they have been used for years in other people-centered locations for support and care.

“Facility dogs are highly trained, certified, assistance dogs that work full time alongside a professional handler in environments like hospitals, schools, or courthouses to provide therapeutic support, comfort, and, in some cases, perform specific tasks” Assistance Dog International said.

Marko is not the only facility dog in Forest Hills, however, and has siblings working at both Nagel and Turpin. These three dogs have been training all their life, in multiple facilities and organizations to be a new face in the district.

“[Marko] was trained in Dayton Correctional Women's Prison, the female inmates trained him” Mrs. Brausch, the at-home caretaker, said. 

Marko had to have extensive training before coming to Anderson. He started his training in a women’s prison; this program gives the inmates a chance to have a job in prison while also spending quality time with the dogs. After being released to Anderson from this program, Marko along with the Anderson staff who are trained to house Marko in their classroom, have to take him repeatedly to a dog training facility for therapy, service and facility dogs, called Circle Tail. 

“Every month we go back to Circle Tail to do the big training with all the other dogs, our whole school team goes to that,” Brausch said. 

Circle Tail breeds dogs that will eventually become a trained dog to help with a practice, Marko’s once a month internship helps him stay on top of his “big” training. 

Although there are multiple staff members that handle Marko at school and go with him to Circle Tail, Mrs Gans, an admin assistant, is his primary caretaker.

“[I am his] primary handler, because my schedule is best suited for him,”  Mrs. Gans, admin assistant, said. 

The role of the primary handler is to house Marko during school. Marko is assisted by Mrs. Gans when greeting students or walking through the halls. 

Mrs. Brausch, however, takes Marko home every night and gets him ready for the next day at school. 

“He has to follow all the commands he follows at school [at home],” Brausch said.

The role of the at home caretaker is keeping things the same between both locations. 

“[He is] the smartest dog I’ve ever been around,” Brausch said. 

Marko’s ability to know the difference between certain commands, stay calm throughout the day, while still putting a smile on people’s faces just shows how smart and well trained Marko is. 

To see Marko during the school day, stop by Mrs. Gans room in the office to find the schedule posted on her door to check out when Marko is available!