Bucks County School District gets its own therapy dog

WARMINSTER, Pa. (WPVI) -- The superintendent of the Centennial School District has a new yellow Labrador puppy. And while he's doing the training, he says the district gets to reap the benefits.

His name is "Centennial Jake" or just Jake for short, and he belongs to the Superintendent of the Centennial School District in Warminster, Dr. David Baugh.

"Every morning I'm like, 'Hey Jake! Ready to go to work?' and his little tail starts going 'Woop Woop Woop!'"

But Jake isn't just tagging along for fun. He's currently completing obedience training and this summer, he'll go through therapy dog certification with Shadowlee Canine in West Chester.

Baugh says he trains every Saturday, and if all goes according to plan he'll start working with students in classrooms this fall.

"He's going to spend time with kids especially around testing time and testing situations. There's a lot of research around kids who read to dogs - doing a lot more reading and thus getting a lot better at reading," said Baugh.

For now, he's been visiting with some of the high school students to get some practice and socialization.

"We have some high school kids who have a variety of learning challenges and so they've kind of adopted him. They drop by, they take him for a walk around the property," said Baugh.

While Jake gets treats, the students get a little break from their day and a little love.

Senior Justin Lucas said, "I treat him like one of my family members. He just changes the environment around here."