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Newest Pine Level Elementary Employee Is Furry Stress Detector Loved by Student Body

By Gerri Miller

Staff Writer

A new employee had a great start on the job at Pine Level Elementary School (PLES) last week. He was hired for his amazing ability to connect with children and help them deal with emotional issues. He also happens to be furry, will sit at your feet when you are stressed, and loves to chase balls.

Gunner, a black lab, is a new facility dog who has been trained to serve the students and staff when they may be struggling emotionally. This could mean helping a student break a cycle of disruptive or self-defeating behavior or just providing comfort when a child is stressed. 

He is one of two facility dogs at the school. Maggie, an English lab, has already been on the job at the school for two years. Gunner is one of her sons. PLES holds the distinction of being the only school in Autauga County that has not only one, but two facility dogs.

A facility dog is different from a service dog. Service dogs are normally assigned to one person while facility dogs are assigned to a school or organization.

PLES Principal Christen Harry said the school has been on a waiting list for Gunner for two years. She said getting funding and approval for a facility dog is a monumental effort. It costs about $8,000 to train and place a facility dog through Service Dogs Alabama (SDA).

Gunner was sponsored with the help of the Autauga Area Community Foundation, Central Alabama Community Foundation, Junior League of Montgomery and the Alabama Department of Education.

“It’s a commitment to have a facility dog,” Harry said. “It is definitely worth it when you see how the dogs help students with their problems or motivate them to perform better academically.”  Harry was having a rough day on Friday and both dogs lay at her feet as they sensed her stress level was high.

Wendy Ellender, a PLES counselor, is Gunner’s handler. That means he stays with her during the day and she takes him home at night. She takes Gunner to classrooms throughout the day while she is teaching student lessons.

“Now I am just known as the one who has Gunner,” she laughed.

Maggie, 6, is handled by the husband/wife team of Josh (Coach Mac) and Chelsea McCullers.  Coach Mac is the physical education coach and Chelsea is a special education teacher.

Chelsea McCullers said that when Maggie goes into a classroom, she will walk immediately to a child that she senses needs her.  “The kids really enjoy having her visit,” she said. “It is almost like encouragement. All the kids want to come to see Maggie.”

She said Maggie was especially helpful for students and faculty who were grieving last month when teacher Michele Ingram passed away. Ingram had taught English and Language Arts at PLES for the past 14 years.

Josh McCullers said Maggie has been especially helpful with children who are emotionally challenged. “I see kids who are struggling who all of a sudden seem better when Maggie is around,” he said.

He said when they take Maggie home, they play with her like any pet.  When they put her vest on, however, she knows that it is time to work.

Chelsea McCullers said they noticed a while back that Maggie would lay down by one child’s side in a certain classroom. What they found out later was that the child had lost her own dog in a house fire.

The training that facility dogs receive to help children is intensive. They are trained in a 43-acre state-of-the-art training complex in Hope Hull.  Maggie was also assigned to a female inmate for one year through SDA’s prison-based dog training initiative.

“The dogs also help with inmate therapy,” Harry said. “They help with stress and getting the inmates to be productive members of society.”

All dogs placed by the SDA program stay in the organization’s system for monitoring for the working life of the dog and receive annual recertification and training for three years. Facility dogs are evaluated and provided updated training for those three years to ensure that the dogs continue to meet the unique needs of the organization or school.

SDA is the oldest and largest non-profit organization in Alabama and has placed more than 75 dogs with qualified individuals/facilities throughout the state. The organization provides medical and psychological assistance dogs to children, adults and veterans with disabilities as well as facility intervention dogs for schools and courtrooms.