Sully, Dowling’s newest addition, is a therapy dog adopted and trained by Mr. Nicholson who is slowly integrating into Dowling. During this process, both Sully and Nicholson have had to adjust to their new routines. Both are happy to do it and can’t wait to see how this new adventure plays out.
A question Nicholson often gets asked is, is he your service dog? Sully is not a service dog, he’s a therapy dog. Service dogs are trained to perform tasks that ease their handlers’ disabilities. Therapy dogs are trained to help bring psychological therapy to people other than their handlers. Sully actually was training to become a service dog but didn’t complete the program because he was ruled out for being too cuddly.
The organization Nicholson adopted Sully from asked him if he would be interested in training Sully to be a therapy dog, because they saw he was a teacher and they knew Sully would be a perfect therapy dog. After adopting Sully, Nicholson and his furry friend had to go through different styles of training. For instance, towards the end of their training they visited nursing homes and hospitals where they would simply go around and greet people. Sully is now officially a therapy dog and is bringing his talents to Dowling. Right now he is only here in the mornings, mostly greeting students in the gym. Sully and Nicholson are slowly making their way up to having Sully at school for full days three times a week.
The biggest change Nicholson has seen is he has had to be more prepared. He knows handling Sully is going to take up more time not only because he has to get Sully ready, but because every time he walks in the hallway he gets stopped by students and staff who are in awe over Sully. One of the biggest changes Nicholson has seen is how Sully is impacting students. Nicholson says, “There’s definitely a lot of smiles on people’s faces”. He has also seen a lot of laughs and joy while he and Sully greet people in the morning. Nicholson enjoys this new habit saying, “It’s a really good start to people’s days”.
Nicholson’s favorite part of bringing Sully to school is simply just seeing how happy students are. He says, “I think we just kind of forget how happy something simple can make people”. Over the last few weeks that Nicholson has been introducing Sully, he has met students he’s never even seen before that now see him and Sully almost daily. Sully and Nicholson are both happy to see their impact.
Sully has brought many smiles to people’s faces and will continue to do so as he adapts to Dowling.
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