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The CTC is adding a new canine employee for the 2023-2024 school year!
The Career & Technology Center at Fort Osage is partnering with local rescues like Chain of Hope and animal shelters to adopt and train a school therapy dog. Therapy dogs positively impact students in a variety of ways, including:
- Increased school attendance
- Positive changes lead to better learning and enhanced motivation
- Growth in confidence levels
- Development of better and stronger relationships with teachers and peers due to the experience of trust and love with therapy dogs. Children learn ways to express their feelings and develop more trusting relationships
- Reducing learner anxiety behaviors causes improvement in learning outcomes like improved reading and writing skills and levels (https://www.therapydogs.com/how-do-therapy-dogs-help-in-the-classroom/)
The CTC therapy dog will be utilized in a variety of ways, including greeting students at the beginning of the day, providing support to students visiting our counselor, being present in testing environments, visiting students ahead of clinicals and being available for emergencies.
Adoption & Training
CTC is seeking a dog from a local rescue or shelter in the Kansas City area. We have tentatively identified a dog with Chain of Hope that will be assessed for behavior and training in mid-May (https://chainofhopekc.org/).
Once approved, the dog will begin training with Dog Training Elite (https://dogtrainingelite.com/kansas-city). Training lasts eight weeks and will be completed over the summer. Three CTC staff members will train as handlers with the dog: Recruitment Coordinator Becky Brown, Counselor Kim Schott and CSI/Law Enforcement instructor Detective Jodi Grooms.
If adoption is completed by the middle of June, the dog will be certified ahead of the first day of school in August.
Life Outside of School
On evenings, weekends and school holidays, the dog will reside with Becky and her family, including her husband John, their three-year-old son Jack, and their one-year-old daughter Hannah.
The Fees
Our fundraising breakdown:
- $2,700 for training through Dog Training Elite of Kansas City
- $200 for adoption fees through Chain of Hope KC
- $2,100 for caring for the dog, including but not limited to food, veterinary bills, pet insurance and liability insurance
Donors with donations of $100 or more can submit a business logo or dedication to Becky Brown at [email redacted] that will be featured on a custom dog bandana and will be regularly worn in the schools and on social media posts.
Funds will be deposited into an account dedicated to the care and support of the dog. Receipts and account statements will be submitted on a monthly basis to the CTC's administrative team for accountability purposes.
Thank you for supporting our students and the CTC community!