Orlando, The City's Magazine Featuring Doglando

The University of Doglando's Paws Making PALS (Positive Achievments, Learning and Sharing) is talked about in Orlando's "The City's Magazine."

To see the article, go to: Wonder Dogs, or read below:



Wonder Dogs
At the University of Doglando, man and his best friend bring out the best in each other.
By Terry O. Roen

Brandon Rogers’ speech disorder makes it hard for him to talk to people. But when the 19-year-old speaks to a fluffy white dog, his words are clear.

Likewise, Christopher Baker’s autism often causes him to spin in circles. Call a dog to his side, however, and Christopher, 18, sits peacefully, as if in awe.

At Orlando’s Magnolia School for the physically and mentally disabled, man and his best friend are bringing out the best in each other.
Thank Cheryl Hite-Scherer and Teena Patel for that. Hite-Scherer teaches a class of six Magnolia students whose disabilities range from schizophrenia to epilepsy. Last fall, she was combing the Internet for teaching ideas when she came across a site for the University of Doglando. She discovered that Patel, owner of the canine care and training center, used dogs in therapy and was interested in expanding the program to help disabled and troubled youths. Patel offered to teach the Magnolia students dog-training skills, and Hite-Scherer bought two 9-week-old Samoyeds, a sociable breed good with children.

Today, the students are bused once a week to Doglando in east Orange County to learn training skills—which they practice on those Samoyeds back at Magnolia, using hand signals and simple commands of sit, stay and come.

The teacher and trainer have seen many benefits from their collaboration. The gentle Samoyeds, named Shannon and Sheamus, help soothe students (especially after seizures) and teach responsibility. Students who observe the dogs’ mistakes during training are motivated to correct their own behavioral issues. Math and science skills are sharpened by charting the Samoyeds’ growth. And daily walks improve both the animals’ and students’ fitness.

But Hite-Scherer and Patel are just getting started. Coming in January: the launch of Paws Making PALS (Positive Achievements Learning and Sharing), a nonprofit made possible by a $40,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Central Florida. PALS’s first venture will be a towel service for animal shelters and local veterinarians, with the highest-functioning Magnolia students ages 19 to 22 providing the labor. Other plans include having some of the schools’ 182 students train shelter dogs to make the animals more adoptable, while others assemble “dog baskets’’ of donated items for those who adopt pets.

The hope is that the work today will pay off in jobs tomorrow—when the students can take their skills of washing and folding towels to local hotels or use their dog-training abilities at shelters and pet stores.

Says Hite-Scherer: “We found a need in society and a place where our kids can give back and feel good about their efforts.’’
Those kids continue to amaze the 30-year teaching veteran. For instance, after a classroom guinea pig died, Hite-Scherer wondered if the students really understood the concept of death. She found out during a funeral for the creature, when a boy suddenly broke into song, putting his heart into an inspiring solo that echoed across the schoolyard and brought the school’s instructors to tears.

He was singing “Amazing Grace.’’


Dog Responsibly