Over the years, the puppies and dogs in our elementary and middle year classrooms have definitely added to our students’ lives and learning – from practical life responsibilities of care, nurture, and training, to the emotional bonds that develop between child and dog, to the social connections that form between students based on their shared love, interest, and enjoyment in the animals, to language growth as “dog!” said with enthusiasm and happiness is often the first word spoken by a child not yet an English speaker.  Writing, from creative stories, research, and poetry abound related to the dogs.