FRYEBURG, Maine — In Kelley Brown's second-grade classroom at the Molly Ockett School in Fryeburg, there really is no need for a popularity contest among students. That's because someone who spends Mondays through Fridays there is already a favorite among the kids. He's a therapy dog, and his name is Flint.
“I was his volunteer puppy-raiser. Every Wednesday night, I would take him to class. I would learn behaviors that we needed to teach him. Then, I would come to school and teach the students how to teach Flint," Kelley Brown, Flint's owner, said.
Brown said she started bringing Flint to her classroom four years ago. He then trained with the Assistance Canine Training Services to become a therapy dog. After graduating, he returned to her classroom in May 2021 and has been there every day of the week since then.
"I had two seventh graders in the room this morning. They come to see Flint," Brown said, noting they were some of her students to first be with Flint and have grown up quite a bit since then. “He had 92 individual visitors in 15 days. They come in the morning. They come in the afternoon.”
Brown said Flint is a calming energy in the classroom, which helps children get interested in reading with him or writing stories about him. She said his presence comes at a good time when many of these students are learning to navigate the world post-pandemic.
"Developmentally, they missed out on social skills. It was a very different environment for them in very precious years," Brown said.
Spend just an hour in Brown's classroom, and it's clear Flint has bonded with her kids, even after just a few weeks.
"He snuggles you, and he rubs his nose against you," one student named Zoe said.
"If you spill something, he helps you clean it up!” another girl, Riley, added.
Even students who were formerly in Brown's class, like third-grader Ellie Smith, say they stay in touch with Flint.
"He usually roams around the hall when I’m walking down from breakfast. He’s usually out there, and I say 'hi' to him," Smith said, later adding, "He just makes me feel better. Like, if I’m having a rough morning – he just makes me feel better.”
Principal Emily Kirkpatrick said Flint's presence over the past few years has been welcomed.
"He touches so many lives in so many different ways," Kirkpatrick said, later adding, "I have seen kids just light up when they see him.”
Kirkpatrick said that kind of comfort and enthusiasm is something she and the rest of her team strive for at the Molly Ockett School.
"We’ve seen the need to be able to meet students where they’re at – socially and emotionally. For some students, Flint really speaks to them," Kirkpatrick said.
You can read more about Flint here.