Something different happens when a school adds a therapy dog to its everyday rhythm. We’ve been collecting stories from the Bearkatz, and they all sound a little like this.
It’s been just over a year since Bear started full-time at Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Arkansas — the dog who literally became a Bearkatz. He’s #89 in the program, suited up in the school’s red, white, and blue. The hallways belong to him. The counselor’s office, too. And on Friday nights you’ll find him on the sidelines.
What’s striking, when teachers and counselors talk about him, isn’t a single dramatic moment. It’s the small ones — the kid who was dreading the day until they saw Bear in the entryway. The class that ran 15 minutes calmer because he was settled near the back. The student who finally said the hard thing in the counselor’s office because there was a dog to look at.
“He makes my day 100% better.”
That’s a direct quote from a Melbourne student. Not a polished testimonial. Just a sentence in a hallway, on a normal Tuesday. We’ve heard a lot of variations of it from the school’s families, staff, and students over the past year — and it’s the kind of sentence that makes the whole program worth running.
Bear is the proof of concept for what we’re trying to build across Arkansas: a trained therapy dog in every public school in the state by 2029. With First Community Bank as our founding partner and a growing network of donors and partners, we’re moving toward 75 placements per year by 2030. Every one of them starts with a school like Melbourne and a community ready to welcome a working dog into the rhythm of their days.
If your school could use a Bear, nominate it here. If you’d like to help fund a placement, give here. If you’d like to help in other ways, we’d love to hear from you.
More stories from the road soon.