Meet Shelby, the Mutt-i-gree® who brings a calm, happy, nonjudgemental atmosphere to Shell Bank Intermediate School

The Mutt-i-grees® Team visited I.S 14 Shell Bank Intermediate School in Brooklyn with several puppies to hold an interactive and informative assembly. The students and teachers there – already fully immersed in the Mutt-i-grees® Curriculum – greatly enjoyed the presentation. And what’s more, one of the teachers in attendance actually adopted one of the puppies from North Shore Animal League America present that day!

This pup, now named “Shelby” after the middle school where she works, has become a daily fixture at the school and a valuable addition to both its faculty and student body. She serves as a physical reinforcement of all the social emotional lessons the students learn through Mutt-i-grees; bringing together students from diverse backgrounds with her nonjudgmental, loving ways; while simultaneously serving to calm the students, brighten their moods and focus them in more on their studies. She also works to combat harmful preconceptions that many of the students have about dogs as a result of exposure to guard and attacks dogs in their New York City neighborhoods. The benefits truly abound.

When Shelby is not working with kids in the classroom, she is either walking outside with one of a long list of faculty volunteers who relish spending time with her, or relaxing in the spacious pen that Shell Bank Principal and Labrador enthusiast Teri Ahearn has set up for Shelby in her office. Then, at night, Shelby heads home with her new mother, Denise, who is completely head-over-heels for her. All in all, Shelby and Shell Bank represent another successful marriage of mutt-i-gree and Mutt-i-grees® school; saving the life of a rescue pet, freeing up room at the shelter for another animal to be saved, educating the next generation about the beauty of adoption and enriching the lives of everyone involved.