Harvey is a new service dog at Gorzycki. He is trained to help Ms. Rickert with her disability. Harvey is a black labrador retriever mix and is very loveable. He goes everywhere his owner goes, helping if necessary.

“Harvey is a service animal and he is trained to help me. And so some of his tasks are turning on the lights, or retrieving food or medicine for me.”

Seventh graders Ella S. and Kelly R. explain if Harvey is beneficial for the class.

“Sometimes he will come and sniff us but usually the teacher says ‘place’ and he goes to his bed,” Ella said. “Sometimes he is a little bit of a distraction because he will just collapse on the floor and we’ll say awww,” Kelly said.

Although lots of kids seem to think that Harvey can be a distraction, Ms.Rickert thinks otherwise.

“If anything, I have discovered that Harvey seems to be really soothing not only for myself but to other students,” Rickert explained. “And because of that I think students have been able to focus better in class and are really enjoying spanish more and enjoying coming to class because they know Harvey is going to be there.”

Students aren’t allowed to pet Harvey while he is working. Ms. Rickert says the best thing to do for both the students and Harvey is to just pretend he isn’t there.

“The rules for Harvey are that you kind of have to pretend like he’s just not there. So, Harvey is definitely a dog who loves to cuddle, who loves giving kisses, who loves to be pet and hugged, and so something that really helps minimize distractions for him while he’s working is to pretend that he’s not there and to not pet or play with him.”

Ms. Rickert explains the process of getting Harvey permission to be on campus.

“One of the first things I did was talk to Dr. Mitchell to let her know that I was getting a service animal. She connected with me to someone at the main district office downtown and there I gave information regarding Harvey and they granted me permission to have him on campus.”

Students explain the positives of having a service dog in class as well as on campus.

“He kind of just makes everyone happy and if they are having a bad day they can just walk in and go, ‘aww he’s so cute!’” Ella said. “[I think Harvey] will provide an example that service dogs are important and that they really do help people that have [a disability]”