After the tragic shootings at neighboring Sandy Hook Elementary School, it became clear that gun control and mental health care improvements would not sufficiently address school safety issues. More importantly, partisan divides promised to create an impasse when it came to implementing any meaningful changes. Working with a new litter of puppies destined to become service and therapy dogs, we watched the NRA calling for armed teachers and guards in every school.

There had to be a better way.

We hope to increase the presence of dogs in every school, teaching empathy and compassion to our children while lowering incidences of conflict and bullying at local levels. This will, in turn, create a generation that has less anger and fewer violent tendencies. Humans have worked with dogs for thousands of years to create a protective ally to guard villages while those bearing arms were away. It has become part of their genetic coding to serve and protect, and part of our own coding to feel more relaxed when a dog is nearby. Dogs for Schools is a simple, non-partisan, complementary solution to curb the rise of violence in our nation

Dogs in classrooms have been shown to:

* Teach Empathy and Compassion
* Decrease Bullying and Conflicts among both Teachers and Students
* Raise IQ levels
* Encourage Respect for Authority
* Provide New Opportunities for Learning

Dogs are also known to:

* Protect Companions from Harm
* Encourage Relaxation
* Diffuse Tension

For more information, visit http://www.dogsforschools.org