Schools are increasingly using dogs to support students’ mental health and learning in the face of rising anxiety.

Golden retriever Goose is Christchurch’s Shirley Boys High and Avonside Girls’ High newest staff member, providing emotional support to students in the schools’ counselling area.

First Aid Officer and Goose’s owner, Clare Cooper, said there’s “quite an epidemic of mental health issues among students, a lot of anxiety, kids feeling overwhelmed.”

Cooper says Goose’s role is simple but powerful.

“It’s pretty much just about providing that emotional support for kids and actually some staff that might need it at school.”

She adds, “a lot of kids feel really judged today, and I think dogs just provide that non-judgmental, unconditional love and support that maybe they don’t feel that they’re getting from their human peers.”

Goose is the schools’ second dog, carrying on the legacy of biological sibling Maverick.

Cooper said Maverick “started going to school through the initiative of a student, who saw him there one day she just thought 'this dog looks so cool' and so she actually went through a whole process of getting him approved to be a school dog.”

She said Maverick was there for two years and made a huge impact.

“We had students who were unwell with stress-related panic attacks, and seizures and things like that, and he would be included in their plans to, as, as treatment.”

Cooper said they’re hoping Goose will have the same sort of traits and will detect when students are sad or in need of a bit of love and comfort.”

She adds that “she’s been very, very confident and very chill and has enjoyed the interactions that she’s had with some anxious kids.”

Mobility Dogs NZ has also recently begun expanding its services to schools and is seeing more schools reach out to use them.

General Manager Jody Wilson said dogs like Goose are part of a growing trend.

“The dog acts as a calming influence and they can, sometimes they will actually talk to the dog rather than talk to the person that’s asking the questions because it allows them a greater sense of, just, just that calming influence of being able to articulate themselves.”

She adds that dogs can also help with reading and academic support.

“Sometimes if a child was struggling to learn to read, they may have a dog sitting beside them that they could, the dog could, they could read to the dog actually, that sometimes happens.”

Wilson said the services dogs provide a range of services.

“It depends on the school. It depends on the type of school. It depends what age group they’re working with.”

Wilson says feedback from schools is overwhelmingly positive.

“All the schools that we’ve placed the dogs with so far, the feedback is only positive… It’s positive across the board.”

“We would love to see dogs in all schools, but, we’ve got to also be mindful that there are children that might not want a dog around, we’ve got to be careful about these placements and work our way through the process.”

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.