MSD therapy dogs recognized
Students include the portraits of the animals in the Aerie yearbook
For the past year, therapy dogs have provided love and comfort to the students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Parkland students are returning the love by honoring the dogs with their own individual portraits in the school’s yearbook. The dogs smile or wag their tongues as they fill two rows at the top of their own page in the Aerie yearbook, which is themed “It All Depends.”
“We love that Chief loves his yearbook,” the school yearbook staff shared on Twitter of the dog sporting a bow tie this week. “Make sure to find him to sign it.”
The dogs, who are a mix of Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Golden Doodles and at least one Shih Tzu-Yorkie mix, are from different South Florida groups including Canine Assisted Therapy Inc., Share-A-Pet, Therapy Dogs International and the Humane Society of Broward County.
“I think it’s just a real nice honor to them,” said Courtney Trzcinski, executive director of Canine Assisted Therapy in Fort Lauderdale, which has seven dogs featured in the yearbook. One of them is a Greyhound ItalianGolden Retriever mix named Emma, a rescue from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. “I think it’s a nice tribute to these dedicated volunteers who gave up their lives to help the Parkland community.”
The idea for including the dogs, who were photographed in October, came from the school’s yearbook adviser Sarah Lerner, who is also an English and journalism teacher.
“We decided to include the dogs because they are here every day,” said Lerner, who edited the recent “Parkland Speaks,” a collection of essays, art and photography by students.
Photos of the dogs posing for the school pictures went viral in October as students shared their furry campus friends on social media.
The teachers’ pets have become a part of the healing process at the school. They have been providing hugs, licks and just overall comfort to students and faculty since the Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting that killed 14 students and three faculty members. In the months following the shooting, there were as many 40 dogs on campus, Trzcinski said.
During the school year, volunteers gathered the dogs in the courtyard so students and faculty could visit them. Other dogs were assigned to students who were severely traumatized. Those dogs shadowed them to their classes, sat next to them or laid their heads on the students’ feet, Trzcinski said.
“I think it’s wonderful. We all need it,” Lerner said of the dog therapy. “It provides this comfort and it helps the kids and it makes them happy and it does the same for us as the faculty and staff.”