Therapy pooch Teli boosts morale at Franklin Elementary School

Four-year-old English Labrador Teli — with mostly all white fur except for a touch of tan on her snout — doesn’t like to be alone, and that jibes well with the students’ morale at Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau.

As the district’s first therapy dog, Teli’s main job is to help children smile who may be having a rough day. Teli comes from a long line of therapy dogs her handler and school counselor Jamie Howard explained as she pointed to multiple photos of Teli’s grandmother Butter. Howard said Butter was her first “working dog.”

Teli’s co-handler is Franklin Elementary principal April Garner.

“I was lucky enough, when Butter passed away, to get her grandbaby Teli, who looks just like her,” Howard said. “She is trained from the time she is 6 to 8 weeks, until she is paired or matched with someone.”

Howard said she received Teli through Kansas-based organization CARES (Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education and Services), where Teli was born and bred to be a “professional therapy dog.”

Franklin Elementary fourth graders, from left, Yaritza Cerraon, Gabby Murray and Daniella Manzanares meet with Teli, the school's therapy dog, before the start of school Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

Franklin is the only school in the district to have an on-site therapy dog available to students on an as-needed basis, Howard said.

“She came with me, as part of the team,” she said.

Howard isn’t new to the canine therapy scene — she’s had a professional therapy dog in her care since 2009, she said.

“[Teli] has lots of different faces and thoughts,” Howard said. “She talks to me; she grumbles. It sounds scary, but she’s trained to alert me if she hears or smells something.”

And during emergency drills, Howard said Teli knows what to do, and can even ride elevators and open doors.

Franklin Elementary fourth graders Gabby Murray, right, and Daniella Manzanares meet with Teli, the school's therapy dog, before the start of school Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

“It’s hard to explain; if you’re a dog lover, you get it,” she said.

Howard said if a student is hesitant in a new situation, “there’s no better way to reduce that fear than with a very well-trained dog.”

“We have a couple of people who are not dog lovers in the building, and [Teli] will wait for them at the front door and follow them in the office,” Howard said. “Her strength is, when kids are melting down or are upset, they can be throwing things or throwing punches, she works her way in.”

CARES provides canine assistants to people across the United States, according to it website.

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