News & Events

Student death at Sinagua Middle School (Flagstaff AZ)

Description: The cause for the visit was the tragic death of an 11 year old student who was killed while riding his skateboard in a collision with a car on Sunday. The 3-teams met our Point of Contact at the entrance to the middle school office. Once the office staff had their chance to pet the dogs, we were guided to different parts of the school. Cinda and Mr. Moose were sent to a set of classromms, Tracy and Evelyn were cruising up and down hallways and Sybil and Maggi were sent to the classroom of the student who passed away. All the teams ended up in multiple classrooms and the counsellor's office throughout the hour or so we were in the school. The response to the dogs was absolute MAGIC! The staff and faculty said over and over how important it was to start the holiday break on a high note. One teacher remarked that having the dogs there helped a lot. "They made my kids day, they needed it more than you know. Thank you for sharing them with us." I am always in awe of how positively kids and adults respond to the magic of a dog in their presence. Can't help but smile and stand a little straighter. Many staff and kids took photos with the dogs. The dog's cards were a hot item. A staff person put one of them on her badge. A number of kids told us where they wanted to put the cards to remember the day. Everyone was so appreciative of our presence.