Deer Lakes' support dog-in-training offers tips to combat covid-19

Lancer is an emotional support dog-in-training in Deer Lakes School District.

The 8-month-old, floppy-eared doodle made her debut in the new role Sunday by delivering an important message on the district’s Facebook page. With the help of some video-editing magic, the pooch reminded families to wash their hands frequently, practice social distancing, and sneeze or cough into their elbows.

“Some people say to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice, but I like to sing, ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’ ” Lancer said about what she does to pass the time while washing her paws. “It never gets old.”

Lancer is owned by middle school Assistant Principal Samantha Abate.

Abate said Lancer was donated to her by South Buffalo-based Riverhouse Doodles last September with the condition that she become a therapy dog.

Abate had messaged Riverhouse Doodles after the business posted a Facebook message asking if any veterans needed a support dog. She asked the business if it would be interested in donating a dog to be used in schools.

Within minutes, she received a response from owner Kelly Patterson. They spoke on the phone, and Abate went to see Patterson’s dogs in person the same day. Abate left with Lancer.

Deer Lakes wanted to get its own therapy dog after district officials saw how students reacted to therapy dogs that were brought in to comfort them following the suicides of two students in recent years.

“They were a hit,” Abate said of those visiting therapy dogs.

Lancer will primarily be stationed at the middle school, but she will travel with Abate to the district’s other schools to provide emotional support.

Patterson said dogs can change children’s lives.

“Kids that have been abused, kids that have emotional disorders, they really connect with a dog at home. It gives them a friend. It gives them someone that doesn’t judge them, someone that’s always there, that hugs and kisses them every day,” Patterson said.

“The same thing will happen in a school district,” she said. “Kids just get excited to see the dog. It’s just a bright spot in their day.”

Lancer still needs to pass a test to become an official therapy dog, but district officials hope that will happen before the start of the next school year.

Abate says Lancer has the right temperament and demeanor to be a therapy dog.

“She is one of the most even-tempered dogs I’ve ever seen,” Abate said. “She does not get angry or fazed by anything. She definitely has a playful side … but it’s all good play, and she loves meeting new people.”

Abate said she was inundated with positive messages after the Facebook video featuring Lancer was posted.

“Somebody had said that their father had just gone in for a treatment for cancer, and this is a trying time right now, and that he was kind of down with everything that was going on,” Abate said. “They showed it to (him) and it made all the difference and it brightened his day.”

District spokesman Jim Cromie made the video, using an app to make it look like Lancer was talking.

Cromie said the video was a good way to introduce Lancer while also driving home safety tips to combat the spread of covid-19. The district plans to make more videos featuring Lancer.

“A big part of her job, a big reason why we got her, is to help quell the anxiety in our students,” Cromie said. “I can’t imagine anything more anxiety-producing than a global pandemic.”