By BRENNA DONNELLY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Noblesville students returned to class for the first time this week since Friday’s school shooting and were greeted by four therapy dogs.
Paws and Think sent two dogs and handlers each to West Middle School and East Middle School, to assist students and staff in coping techniques Tuesday.
Class resumed at East Middle School while West Middle School students were able to roam the hallways, greet friends and teachers, and prepare to resume classes Wednesday.
Those students met eight-year-old black Newfoundland Bella.
“Bella is the keeper of secrets,” said Margaret Drew, handler with Paws and Think. “Lots of times, kids will come up to her and bury their head in her fur, and tell her what’s going on in their lives. Whereas it’s not as easy to tell an adult or a teacher what’s going on.”
Drew said some of the students at West Middle needed Bella to be that bright spot of something new and happy walking down the hallway.
“They come up to her immediately. ‘Aw, look at her, cute dog,’ and would just hug her and love her,” said Drew.
A few miles away at East Middle School, Melissa McCoy and golden retriever Alpine visited with students and staff for some one-on-one therapy.
“I had one eighth grader who was there and she really didn’t say much, but she came up and sat down on the floor with the dog and laid down on the dog for a good 10 minutes and was crying,” said McCoy. “And then she got up and seemed better.”
Their handlers said the scene repeated in front of Alpine and Bella throughout the day as they allowed students to cope.
“It gets their mind off things with tricks. It’s fun, it’s having things be normal again. And when they need to lie down and cry, they can do that,” said McCoy.
Drew and McCoy say they can’t quite explain why dogs make people feel better, but they see it and hoped it helped Noblesville students get ready for Wednesday.
“It was more uplifting than I was expecting,” said McCoy of the atmosphere at West Middle School. “Everyone seemed to have been over the initial shock and they were all coming together.”