Dogs in schools are beneficial to students because they help teach responsibility and foster social skills. Lucy loves going to school. She loves the walk along the tree-lined streets from her house to the welcoming building on the hill. She loves all the students who are so nice to her and who greet her every day with such enthusiasm and delight. She loves walking through the hallways and peering into the classrooms where so many interesting things seem to be happening with the students. But Lucy is not a student, or even a child: she's a 9-year-old black standard poodle who belongs to Robert Vitalo, the headmaster of the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Lucy has been going to school since she was a puppy, first at Fairfield Country Day School in Connecticut, where Vitalo worked previously, and more recently, at Berkeley Carroll. She either sits curled up in Vitalo's office or accompanies him as he moves about the building. "Her presence helps humanize me with the students,'' Vitalo said. "She makes me seem more approachable and less intimidating.''

Lucy, who visits the middle and upper schools (grades 5 through 12), does indeed offer a great entree to the student body. She enjoys near movie-star status among the kids, and her appearance is eagerly anticipated and welcomed. "I love Lucy,'' said Lilliana Kane, a student in the eighth grade. "She's sweet and playful and whenever I see her it makes me happy.'' May Cohen, another eighth grader, adds, "She makes the school feel more like a family.''

Cohen's insight is particularly apt: Animals in school do create an atmosphere of warmth, intimacy and safety - in other words, an ideal learning environment. There is yet another less obvious, but still important, function that Lucy serves. Her presence helps keep Vitalo grounded during his busy and sometimes challenging days as headmaster of a bustling and diverse independent school. "If I get nervous, Lucy can sense it right away,'' he said. "So in order to keep her calm, I have to remain calm myself.''

Teacher's pet

Dogs in the classroom or halls notwithstanding, there are other ways for children to derive pleasure and educational value from animals in a school setting, and numerous ways for them to benefit from the interaction. Eloise White, a grade school teacher at P.S. 372 in Brooklyn, notes that animals in the classroom teach responsibility, develop social skills and foster empathy. She has hosted fish, tree frogs, guinea pigs, snakes and rabbits in her classroom. "The kids learn so much from having the animals in their environment,'' she said. "From caring for an animal to applying the same social skills they acquire with the pet to their peers, they are always getting something positive from the relationship.''

Even a rabbit's death offered an important learning opportunity. The students were encouraged to write notes describing the things they remembered most fondly about him; they also expressed their affection and sorrow at his death. The notes were taped to the empty cage, a fitting memorial to a beloved pet.

According to Leslie Hendelman, a licensed clinical social worker with more than a decade's experience in the New York City public school system, pets in the classroom "link the children and teacher together as a family with offspring, where the tasks of caring can be shared among them.'' She also notes that class pets have a special value for a shy child, or one who does not excel academically, "allowing him or her to come to life as a responsible, proud caretaker.''

In their own environment

Animal-human interactions don't have to be confined to the classroom. School trips to zoos, wildlife habitats and aquariums all give school children a glimpse into our essential differences from - and similarities to - other creatures. Seeing the animals in approximations of their natural habitats, learning about their life cycles and having a chance to reach - even if only briefly - across the mysterious and profound divide that separates species should be vital parts of every school curriculum.

Reviewed by Amy I. Attas,V.M.D.

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