Life Lessons from Pete the Dog

Can children learn social sensitivity from dogs?

Fourth-grade teacher Amy Weinstein sees heartening evidence in her class that they do. Her dog, Pete, who just returned to school in the middle of taking a social-skills class, was welcomed back with tenderness and love from her students.

Over the year, the children have become familiar with Pete’s needs and his history. When Amy adopted him, he had been physically hurt by an “insensitive human,” and the students know that as a result Pete can get nervous around people. His social-skills class is helping him feel safe to let a gentle person pet him. On the other hand, he is also learning that when he feels unsafe, he can shield himself behind Amy’s legs. That way he doesn’t have to cower.

Pete has proved to be a successful student in the past, as he had to pass an extensive good-citizen training in order to participate at school. However, his current social-skills class is a whole new level of learning aimed at helping him to be more emotionally resilient.

The fourth grade discussions about Pete are actually on the cutting edge of what psychologists and educators are learning about emotions and their profound connections to the nervous system in humans and animals.

Students are aware that when someone approaches Pete quickly and tries to touch him, his sense memories from the past can get activated, and he is likely to cower in fear. As a result, fourth-graders feel responsible to make their classroom a comfortable place for Pete to be. When voices get loud, they often remind each other, “That might scare Pete.”

In his social-skills class, Pete learns to handle interactions by going into pet stores with Amy where his trainer has different people approach him in sensitive ways. Pete is gradually growing accustomed to allowing a gentle person to stroke his chin and alternately to go behind Amy if he feels nervous. The children love hearing about Pete’s progress.

The students also see analogies in their own lives. They say that they wouldn’t want a stranger to come up to them and pat them on the head because they “look cute.” Moreover, they realize that, like Pete, their classmates give non-verbal signals when they don’t like a behavior through unhappy facial expressions or turning their bodies away. Talking about Pete initiates classroom discussions about how students can pick up on cues from one another and tell others when they need physical or mental space. 

The children are privileged to have Pete as a friend who teaches them over and over that loving kindness is the most important thing they can bring to the world.