When most teenagers talk about school, you hear them say words like “boring”, “repetitive” and “tedious”. But with a seven hour school day, some students are having trouble even being in class let alone being able to focus.

According to an article written by Rachel Ehmke, some types of anxiety are easy to identify but others can be harder and may lead to disruptive or angry behavior, ADHD or even a learning disorder.

Students at LHS are starting to take matters into their own hands. LHS senior Logan Kliewer has started to bring her new puppy to be trained into a therapy/companion dog so he can begin to help with anxiety.  

Anxiety can come in many different forms such as separation anxiety, social anxiety or generalized anxiety. According to an article written by Kathleen Pointer, these dogs can help people with anxiety by possibly bringing them medication or water, bringing them a phone to call someone for help, leading an adult to them, providing pressure to their to create a calming effect or supply tactile stimulation like licking their face to help calm them.

Children continue to struggle with anxiety. They are forced to go to school and suffer through anxiety attacks and have to deal with them without having anyone help them deal with it. If dogs were allowed to come into public places like schools, students would be able to cope with their anxiety instead of having to deal with these problems alone.

With these disorders, children may have hard times sitting still, leaving their caregivers, have disruptive behavior and have trouble answering questions in class. If families of children that are coping with these mental disorders are given the opportunity to train and raise a therapy dog to help them with their anxiety attacks, we may actually give all children the chance to succeed in the classroom.