February 6, 2012

Caring for dog helps former truants mature

SENDAI – About 20 students who had refused to go to school have been able to build their self-confidence by taking care of a candidate guide dog at their private high school since June.

Not only has the dog, an 11-month-old Labrador retriever named Elle, grown over the past nine months, but the students also have matured as a result of the experience. Seven third-year students graduated from the high school in Sendai on Monday and the dog will enter a guide dog training center this spring.

The students who are taking care of Elle attend the Sendai Campus of Clark Memorial International High School, a correspondence school with more than 50 campuses nationwide. Elle was brought to the school by teacher Sayaka Matsumura, 27, who volunteered to raise a candidate guide dog in the hope that caring for and training a dog would help stimulate students’ mental growth.

Puppies that are guide dog candidates usually are raised by volunteers at home for about a year. According to the Japan Guide Dog Association, it is quite rare that a puppy is brought up in a school setting.

The students were divided into three groups and took turns caring for the dog, including taking her for walks and feeding her.

One of the students, Asami Toda, a third-year student who had been a virtual shut-in for 10 years, went out on the streets with Elle and solicited donations to raise money for guide dogs.

“A few years back, I wouldn’t have been able to go out by myself onto busy shopping streets. I feel as if Elle has drawn me out,” Toda said. Spending time with the retriever aroused her interest in welfare and she decided to continue her education at a nursing care vocational school.

Ryota Fukuda, 19, a third-year student who entered the school in autumn after a history of refusing to go to school as a middle school and high school student, was the dog’s most earnest caretaker.

He is scheduled to enter a university this spring and aims to become a counselor. “Watching Elle’s daily growth, I’ve become confident myself,” he said.

Matsumura happily said, “Students have learned to build relationships of trust with Elle and their fellow students.”

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Yosuke Suenaga, 27, who will train Elle at the guide dog association’s Sendai training center, said, “Elle has become a dog who likes to be with people, as she received a lot of affection from students.”

Elle is scheduled to return to the training center around May to undergo full-time training. Of the candidates for guide dogs, only 30 percent to 40 percent actually become guide dogs. But the students expect Elle to succeed.