Meet Maya

This is Maya! She will be Eisenhower's new therapy dog starting in the 2020-2021 school year. We are very excited to welcome her into our school. Maya is currently going through puppy training in order to get her ready to go through therapy dog training. We hope to have her in the building as much as possible next year as she works towards completing her training.

Maya is a bernedoodle. She is a mix between a bernese mountain dog and a poodle. She is about 12 weeks old at this point, and she is getting bigger and bigger everyday. Maya likes to go on walks, sleep, eat, and jump on our other dog's head. We are working hard to get that puppy behavior to stop. She is a very friendly and cuddly dog. She likes her belly to be rubbed, and she also likes being scratched behind her ears. Maya's training is going very well up to this point. She has already learned how to sit, lie down, stay, and go to her place. She is very food oriented so for a treat she will do just about anything you ask. She walks very well on a leash, and is starting to stay in her place for longer periods of time.

We have several ideas of how Maya will be used in our building next year. We are hoping that she will be out in the morning to greet the students getting off the buses. We plan to have her available for checkout by teachers that want to host Maya for a period of time in their classroom. Maya will be a part of counseling sessions with students, and will also serve as a reward that students can earn. When Maya isn't involved in classrooms or other tasks in the building, she will hang out in the office, or take a nap in Mr. Boyer's office.

There will be some very rigid guidelines that will be put in place to keep students and Maya safe. The students will be required to follow certain expectations when it comes to interacting with Maya in the hallway, classrooms, and at recess. Maya is also being trained with a set of requirements that she must follow to make sure she behaves properly at all times.

Maya will spend most of her time living with Mr. Streit and his family. Mr. Streit will bring Maya to school most days, and take care of her in the mornings until school starts. Then Maya can hang out with Mrs. Ransbottom in the office, or she can be taken around the school by Mr. Boyer or one of the other trained handlers in the building.

If you have any questions or comments about Maya, please fill out the Google form below and we will be happy to answer them for you.