Justin and his best friend are making history in Durham
by Tracey Coveart/The Scugog Standard

Walking down the hall tethered to his best friend Justin, Tido is just another member of the Immaculate Conception (IC) Catholic School community. But as the first autism service dog in Durham to accompany a student to school, Tido is a trailblazer for classroom accommodation.

Tido came into Justin’s life four and a half years ago as a one-year-old pup. He had already undergone intensive nine-to-five service dog training, but Justin’s mother, Sarah, was relentless. “I was so determined that this dog was going to work out,” she said. Today, Tido is so much a part of the fabric of Port Perry, “that it’s like living with Mick Jagger,” joked Sarah. “We can’t go anywhere anonymously anymore!”

If you live in town, you’ve likely seen Tido in his purple vest, his leash clipped securely to Justin’s belt. The dog acts like an anchor for the boy. When the two are together, Justin does not bolt, a typical autistic behaviour that was becoming increasingly frequent and dangerous by the end of last year, both at school and at home.

For Sarah, the most terrifying moment came when she was hiking an unfamiliar trail with her two boys. The trail abutted agricultural land and suddenly a cornfield came into sight. In an instant, Justin had disappeared among the stalks. He eventually emerged, long after 911 had been summoned and a search and rescue helicopter has been placed on standby, and Sarah realized that her son’s bolting was reaching a crisis point. When she found out the school was having the same problem, she knew it was time to get Tido into the classroom.

She approached Immaculate Conception Principal Marg Geer just before Christmas to request that Tido be allowed to come to school. Although Principal Geer was open to the idea, there were no policies or procedures in place to govern such a request. “That was our first step,” said Ms. Geer. “Helping the board draft policies and procedures for having a dog in the school.”

For Sarah, who attended countless meetings with school and board officials, working through the bureaucratic process was agonizingly slow. “At times it seemed like I was blazing a trail with a machete. But the fact that we were establishing board-wide policies kept me going. I wasn’t just doing this for my son. I was doing it to give other people hope.”

For guidance, a team from the board office and IC visited schools in other Toronto boards that already had dog guides in attendance “to see how they’d worked it out.”

IC also worked closely with Sarah, Justin’s advocate and a voice for all autistic children who might one day want to bring their service dog to school, and the pioneering mom had a lot of input into the development of the service dog policy.

The school discussed the plan with its parent council, and was thrilled when no red flags were raised. “Everyone was really on board,” said Ms. Geer.
A letter went home to parents, letting them know a dog was coming to school and giving them an opportunity to voice their concerns. Again, there were none.

“I had expected concerns from parents around allergies, medical issues and the fear some children feel towards dogs. There were no issues; no complaints.

The final step was to have a representative from National Service Dogs attend an assembly, making a presentation to the entire school community about autism service dogs.

“She explained the rules regarding how to treat a service animal when it is working,” said Ms. Geer, “and she introduced Tido to the children, many of whom had no previous exposure to service dogs. She also went into the classroom to work with Justin’s classmates and his teacher.”

Once each of the school’s three educational assistants - all of whom would have the opportunity to work with the dog - had received their training, “away we went,” said Ms. Geer.

Tido started at IC just after the March Break, easing into his new routine. He started coming for half an hour a day, then half days, then whole days in mid-April. Like a child with special needs, Tido, too, had a transition plan. And thanks in large part to Justin’s mom, it went off without a hitch.

“Sarah has been very supportive of everything we’ve done,” said Ms. Geer. “She’s very in tune and working with us every step of the way, nurturing us.”

The children know that when Tido is wearing his purple vest, he’s working and can’t be touched. When he has his vest off, he’s like a family pet, but this rarely happens at school to avoid any confusion. Tido goes outside to pee once a day on a grassy area beside the school that is not accessed by children and he is trained to poop at home - “Although we’re prepared for the occasional accident!” said Ms. Geer.

Having the dog at school has made a world of difference to Justin. “He’s a lot calmer, a lot happier, a lot more secure,” said Ms. Geer. There are no longer any issues with bolting and “when he’s with his dog he can walk up and down the hallway independently (he used to be flanked by two EAs just to go to the washroom) and go out for recess and play with the other children.” School, for Justin, is now a much more inclusive experience.

“The kids were clamouring to have lunch with him,” said Sarah. “We had to limit it to two. Now he’s got fitness buddies, recess buddies.”

Ms. Geer sees “the school an extension of the home. Justin is used to having Tido at home and sees the dog as part of who is and how he can exist in this world. If we take away that support in school, he is not as secure, confident or independent.”

Although the other students had been very accepting of Justin since he started school in September, there are benefits for them, as well. “It makes them more accepting of our differences as individuals,” said Ms. Geer. “It’s been really exciting for them to be a part of this project. They have welcomed this doggy into their classroom and have learned about dogs and their care, the role of service animals and what they can do to help people with disabilities.”

Initially nervous about having a service dog in the classroom, Ms. Geer said the experience “has been an all-round positive thing” and a good example for other schools who have students with the same kinds of special needs.

“We’d love to work with anybody else who would like to welcome a service dog in their school. That’s what we did. We went to see how things were working elsewhere.”

The school year is wrapping up, but come September Justin will be back and so will Tido.

“Everybody’s trained and ready to go,” said Ms. Geer. “Tido is just part of our school community now. He’s one of our children.”