INTRODUCING DELILAH

Hey there, Delilah!

By now, you may have heard that there is a new addition to  the College. 

Delilah is a 5 month old Labradoodle x Spoodle, and is owned the by the School Psychologist Tiina Gibbs and her family. Admittedly, she does not look like your regular farm dog, but her breed was specifically chosen to be great for working with people. 

Delilah's role at the College is as a wellbeing dog - her role will be to increase student interactions with the Student Services team, improve self-regulation, and assist lines of communication between staff and students. So how does she do this? Research has shown that animals, in particular dogs and horses, are great at helping people feel calm, relaxed, understood and cared for. Animals don't judge us for how we look or what we do (unless it is not feeding them when they expect it!).

Even though Delilah looks more like a sheep than a working dog, her role has already proven a hit amongst staff and she is slowly getting to know the students. As Delilah is still technically a puppy, she will need a little extra care and understanding, including not being inundated with people or hearing loud, squealy voices. She is happy to have one-on-one interactions with people, at her level (ie on the floor). 

When Delilah gets a little older, she will start training with Tiina to hopefully become a Therapy Assistance dog. Until then, she will be getting used to being around the school environment. 

Please feel free to inform the College if your child does not want to be approached by Delilah or if there are any allergies to dogs (even though Delilah is a low-allergy dog, this needs to be taken into consideration).