By Austin C.
Some students at The Family Foundation School do not like being here very much and feel so passionately about leaving that they are willing to risk their lives to run away. Sadly (or fortunately) for them, Rita Argiros has been training dogs for four years to track and find students who run away.
The number of runaway incidents has dramatically dropped since The Family Foundation School established the dog training program in 2004.
Argiros, Vice President for Administrative Affairs at the school, recently gave a presentation to the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) in Austin, Tx. entitled, “Animal Assistant Therapy and Managing the Runaway Incident.”
Recently, she has been reviewing all runaway cases from January 2003 to January 2009.
The statistics show a significant decrease in the number of incidents and the length of time runaways were gone since the institution of the dog training program. In 2003, before the program began, 95 incidents involving 64 students occurred. In 2008, the fourth year of the dog training program, there were 68 incidents involving 49 students.
In 2004, the 75 percentile of students who ran away were off campus for over 20 hours. The 2008 statistics show that the 75 percentile of students who ran away were off campus for only 11 hours. Now, more than half of the runaway attempts last less than 7 hours.
Argiros also talked to NATSAP about how the dog training program benefits the students who work and play with the dogs.
One of the benefits Argiros discussed is how the dog training program gives students motivation to behave so they can continue working with the dogs. “If I’m not doing well, if I’m not doing the right thing, then I won’t have that trust from Rita,” dog training student Matt W. commented.
The dogs also provide support for students. “If a student is going through a hard time, I’ll bring down a dog to be with them so they can calm down,” Argiros stated.
Another plus of the dog training program is that students are able to build relationships with one another through their mutual love of dogs. The program provides social support for any students who may be shy or feel out of place.
“I think we learn about ourselves from watching and training dogs,” said Argiros, “The kids learn to be in control of their emotions in order to help teach the dogs. We try to reserve negative reinforcement to when it’s necessary, however we can’t do everything with reward, there has to be a metaphorical ‘corner’ in life.”
