First Lady Cathy Justice, left, and Jim Brannan, center, learn about Chloe, the therapy dog, with her trainer Joelene Hathaway, right, at the Doddridge County Back-to-School Bash. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

WEST UNION — First Lady Cathy Justice visited Doddridge County’s Back-To-School Bash Thursday to welcome the state’s newest therapy dog through the Friends With Paws program.

Doddridge County High School is the 33rd recipient of a therapy dog through the program, Chloe, a golden retriever.

Friends With Paws partners with Ultimate Canine, a dog training company based out of Indiana, to source all their therapy dogs.

Justice helped bring Friends With Paws to all 55 counties in West Virginia to partner with an existing program called Communities in Schools. Communities in Schools is a program that has the mission statement to foster and create healthy environments between adults and youth, typically, on a one-to-one basis.

“We have a site coordinator in each school and this person serves like a second mother of the school,” Justice said. “If something’s bothering you, if you need help with homework, if you need help getting to practice, this person is located in the school and they’re there to help you do everything … the Friends With Paws is a spin-off of Communities in Schools. We decided that what better way to introduce kids coming to school than to have a therapy dog in the school.”

Joelene Hathaway, left, a trainer from Ultimate Canine, demonstrates with Scott Cochran, right, how therapy dogs “visiting” or snuggling with someone can help ease anxieties. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

The Friends With Paws program places certified therapy dogs in schools across the state, providing more than just a friendly face to see in the halls.

“Having a dog in a guidance office for kiddos that maybe have trauma in their lives, everyone’s got a story right?” said Joelene Hathaway, a trainer for Ultimate Canine, “When a human has hurt you, it’s not as easy to open up to another human, right? But when you’ve got a dog, that’s really showing you nothing but love. You don’t have a past history with that animal … it makes it easier for those students to be able to focus in on that dog and bridge that gap to open up and process things.”

According to Hathaway, there are even studies that utilize dogs to help children develop skills with focus and concentration; even aiding children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to be able to concentrate and work on building those skills. An additional benefit of therapy dogs is the ability to emotionally ground an individual to help reduce stress and anxiety. A goal the program hopes to meet is to help better attendance and encourage positive behaviors throughout the community.

“The kids know that the dog is in their life,” Justice said, “We’ve had lots of pictures of kids that are on the dog bed, with the dogs, just hugging them and talking to them. It makes them feel good. It’s a warm, fuzzy feeling.”

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com