Elementary students were sad when they found out that Levi, Myers’ old therapy dog, retired last year because of his age, but Mrs. Wendy Bush brought her own golden retriever named Bailey in to help students when there is something wrong.
2024-205 was her first full-time work at B-A, but Bailey had a great first year! She helped with OT sessions for several students when they buttoned her B-A sweater to work on self help skills and fine motor/bilateral coordination skills. They also brush her to help them calm their sensory systems. Some students will work on shoe tying by tying a bow on her harness. Some students will remove her harness by pinching the clips on each side. She also helps students to identify Zones of Self Regulation by identifying whether Bailey is too excited, too tired, or just right.
Bailey is an English Cream Golden Retriever, and she passed her STAR puppy test and her Canine Good Citizenship test in December 2023, In August 2024 she passed her Therapy dog test.
Many people think that dogs at school would be a distraction in there studies, but studies have shown that dogs calm down people because they seem like they’re listening and there for you. At Myers, when students are overwhelmed, they can calm down by petting the dog.
Mrs. Bush has been bringing in therapy dogs, and it has made the school experience much more pleasant for many people.
Bailey was adopted by Wendy from a rescue in July 2023. She was only 6 months old and needed hip surgery, which she had in July 2023. “Once completely healed from that, we started training,” Bush said.
Mrs. Bush said Bailey’s impact on hard-to-reach students has been memorable.
“A student who has difficulty with self regulation, (she was often getting out of control running around) was able to relate with Bailey when BAILEY became overly excited and then she was able to watch Bailey and see how she calmed down to be ‘just right’,” Mrs. Bush said. “She not only saw how much better EVERYTHING was when Bailey was calm, she understood that it is OK to be in various Zones of Self Regulation throughout the day, as long as we are able to calm down when we need to in order to be a respectful student.
Kids LOVE Bailey, and he instant smile and sound of pure joy when they see her is heartwarming.
Mrs. Bush actually has 2 other dogs, and Levi started the whole program. “He had a WTAJ news story done on him in April of 2023 here at Myers. After that, we were getting phone calls from school districts all over about having therapy dogs. He is enjoying his retirement now. We also have a 6 year old silver lab named Barkley. He is a complete love bug, but is very shy around new people.”
Bailey attends school at Myers on Tuesdays and half day on Wednesdays and then goes to Tyrone Elementary and Middle/High School with me on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.
She first joined the Bush family from Mending Hearts Pet recue when she was 5 months old.
“She came from a breeder who was going to use her for breeding but discovered she had severe hip dysplasia in both hips, a slight under bite, and 3 top front missing adult teeth,” Mrs. Bush said. “We adopted her officially a month later. She had surgery on her right hip and did very well and does not demonstrate problems so we are waiting to do the surgery on her left hip.”
Mrs. Bush said she never has diffculty getting Bailey excited for a day at B-A>
“She gets right in the car and is ready for the day! She gets very excited when there are a bunch of students in the hallway – she likes to go say “HI!” she said.
