Our New Therapy Dog: Barley

Do you love dogs? Well Mrs. Straw does too, and now, EJHS has its very own therapy dog, Barley! Now you can play with her during counseling sessions! Read on to learn more!

Mrs. Straw has been wanting a therapy dog for EJHS for a while, and this year, her dream came true. Barley is here! Mrs. Straw has Barley here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. “At first it was a joke, but once I came to EJHS, I realized that maybe it wasn’t a joke anymore,” Mrs. Straw said. She hopes that Barley will be able to regulate students when they come to counseling sessions.

Barley has had a lot of training since she was born. When Barley was born, she worked with a breeder. Mr & Mrs Straw got Barley when she was about 8 weeks old. They put her in Mad 4 my Dog and she started puppy preschool. Barley has her basic skills and her intermediate skills. Barley also passed her advanced therapy prep. Now they are trying to work on the main fundamental skills that she needs to have to be successful here at the school. After they get that done they will go in to test for her certification but Barley has to be a year old to be able to test for her certification so they can’t test for her certification until after October.

Barley was brought to EJHS to help kids regulate their emotions when they get out of hand, and just to be an adorable furball! So far, Barley has been a big hit! Students have loved her so far, and enjoy seeing her on the days(Monday, Wednesday, Friday) that she’s here. Barley has also been in multiple classrooms, and Mrs. Straw hopes to “add more skills to her toolbox” in the future. She also wants kids to interact with her in small groups, at some point. Barley and Mrs. Straw are also active at regulation breaks, and students have loved taking her on walks throughout the break.