Ruby The Therapy Dog
We are very excited to introduce you to Ruby, a new member of staff who we are welcoming to Tor View School. Ruby is a Cockerpoo puppy who is beginning her first set of puppy classes and, in time, we plan to train her to become a fully qualified Pet Therapy Dog so that she can become an integral part of our school community.
Therapy dogs can now be found widely across many school settings. We therefore thought that it would be helpful to explain a little more about the benefits of a school dog, whilst endeavouring to address any concerns you may have; further information is provided overleaf.
Whilst this is an exciting time and many children will wish to meet Ruby, we do not envisage that any formal sessions will commence with her before the start of the next academic year, September 2019. Letters have been sent out to seek parental permission regarding contact with her for therapy and/or reading sessions. Thank you for all the responses we have had so far, if you have yet to complete the slip then please do so as soon as possible and return to school. In the meantime, please do be advised that there may be times before then when Ruby is introduced to Forms or in Assemblies, but this will be without physical contact.
If you have any concerns regarding Ruby, please do not hesitate to contact the Office Team. In the meantime, we do hope that you will join us in welcoming her to the Tor View School Community and embrace all that she has to offer our school.
Ruby's Self-isolation Blog
Ruby is Tor View School’s Therapy Dog. She is still training, and she was going to have her bronze assessment in school at the end of March but now like everyone else she can’t sit her exams and she has to stay at home so she can Socially Distance. Ruby loves to go to school so she is not happy about being at home all the time. Ruby is a teenager now, so she is bored lots of the time. This is what Ruby’s life is like now …
Day 1 |
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No dogs are going out for walks, so there is nothing to bark about. I can’t find any children anywhere – where they have all gone? I haven’t had any treats for at least 5 minutes. Hang on someone just said ‘TREATS’ – Yay, my life is great again!! So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … TREATS. |
Day 2 |
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My only friend is this sausage dog and he is bored too! I have given his ears a good chew to pass the time – I think he likes that. He isn’t very communicative – the long silent type – I guess! I went out in the garden today – no dogs outside at all. Life is very dull – I miss the children at Tor View School. Hang on, one of my humans is taking me out for a walk – lots to sniff outside. Yippee, my life is great again. So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … SMELLS. |
Day 3 |
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I tried to play ‘TIG’ with the cat– she didn’t want to play. When I think about it she never wants to play. Cats are very strange creatures, they look like dogs, but they just aren’t dogs. I mean WHO doesn’t like a good game of ‘TIG’? So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … playing ‘TIG’. |
Day 4 |
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I love milk. Milk is GREAT. I love dog food with MILK. When you put milk in it isn’t like dog food anymore it is like …. Dog food with MILK! Dog food with MILK is just about as good as it gets. I could eat Dog food with MILK all day long (and all night too). So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … Dog food with MILK. |
Day 5 |
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored – but it has been a good day today. I got to have 3 WALKS because all my humans love me lots and they all wanted to go out and take me for a walk. I went out in the morning, that was WALK 1, I walked to the farm to bark at the sheep and horses. At lunchtime, that was WALK 2, I walked to the river and had a swim. In the evening, that was WALK 3, I walked up the hill and then my lead came off and I ran and ran and ran. Then I heard ‘TREATS’ so I ran back to my human and had a handful of TREATS. Amazingly, whilst I was eating my TREATS my lead went back on and then I walked home. Now I need a sit down on my bean bag to give my paws a rest. So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … SHEEP. |
Day 6 |
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1. I dug a big hole, the humans love digging so I am sure they’ll love my hole Now I am really, really tired! So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … GARDENING. |
Day 7 |
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It is difficult for humans to stand up because they only have two paws (they call them feet – but they look like paws to me). When things fall off the kitchen worktop I help the humans by picking them up and eating them as quickly as possible. I am very good at COOKING. One day I ate a whole ginger root because it had rolled onto the floor. I love to COOK so I think I might become chef when I grow up. Now I really need a rest! So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … COOKING. |
Day 8 |
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When I got home I had a lovely warm BATH. Well, actually I had a cold shower outside and then I had a lovely warm BATH. I love BATHS. BATHS are great. After my BATH I had to have my fur dried. I do not like fur driers. I struggled to get away and hide. I hope the children at Tor View are having lots of BATHS. BATHS are great! Now I am all fluffy and dry and I am really, really tired. So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … BATHS. |
Day 9 |
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I played BALL in the garden and my favourite BALL is ‘Squeaky Christmas Pudding BALL’. My Grandoggy bought it for me for Christmas. Everyone loves ‘Squeaky Christmas Pudding BALL’ because it is the noisiest toy I own. But sometimes, when I am not looking, ‘Squeaky Christmas Pudding BALL’ disappears, especially when we are watching TV. I do miss it when ‘Squeaky Christmas Pudding BALL’ goes missing because the house is just too quiet. When I go back to school, I am going to play BALL with the children at Tor View. Anyway I played ball so much today that now I am really tired. So, I might just have a little sleep and dream of … my favourite BALL – Can you guess which one it will be? |
Day 10 |
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Today was so sunny. I stayed in the garden all day long. The humans took their fur off. My fur doesn’t seem to come off, so I lay down in the shade. The humans sat and drank fizzy drinks with ICE CUBES. I love ICE CUBES. I could chase an ICE CUBE for hours. Well, not exactly hours because the thing about ICE CUBES is when you bite them and chase them they get wetter and smaller and then they disappear. Where do they go? Does anyone know? I think I will ask the children at Tor View to explain where ICE CUBES go. Children learn lots of important things at school. Because I was outside, I had a sleep on the sofa in the garden. In fact, I am a bit sleepy now, so I might just have a little sleep and dream of … ICE CUBES. |
Day 12 |
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I am a ‘downstairs doggy’. I don’t really understand what this means but if I go upstairs the humans shout ‘Ruby downstairs’ and if I sit on the mat at the bottom of the stairs they say ‘Good girl’ and I get TREATS. So, I usually stay on the mat because, just in case you didn’t know, I really like TREATS. Today I thought I’d like to try being an ‘upstairs and downstairs doggy’ because the cat, the one who never likes to PLAY, seem to be an ‘upstairs and downstairs cat’. So, I ran upstairs very quickly and jumped in bed with one of the humans. The type of human who is still ion bed at 1pm, I think they are called teenagers? He loved me licking his face and he couldn’t wait to get up and come downstairs. He was so excited he carried me down to the kitchen. Then, I think he got a bit confused because he disappeared before giving me a TREAT and when I went to tell him the door was closed? But it didn’t matter because Mummy human thought something was very funny and I got some TREATS anyway. I hope the children at Tor View are getting up early and doing Jo Wicks to keep fit! Keeping fit can make you very tired, so I might just have a little sleep and dream of more … TREATS. |
Day 13 |
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I have just invented a brand new GAME. It is very exciting! It is a bit like one of my other favourite GAMES, ‘Grab a sock’. ‘Grab a sock’ is where you run over to a pile of washing (clean or dirty washing it doesn’t matter) and grab a sock to chew. The new GAME is called ‘Grab a SLPPER’ and it can be played inside and outside. The rules are very easy, you just have to grab a SLIPPER and run off with it all around the house and the garden. Well, downstairs in the house if you are a ‘downstairs doggy’ like me. I haven’t got a scoring system sorted yet but I think you should get extra points if someone had the SLIPPER on their foot when you grabbed it. I wonder if the children at Tor View have invented any new games to play while they are off school? I do miss playing with the children. And I have just thought of another new GAME. This one is called ‘Grab a shoe’. I bet no one knows how to play this game?? Thinking up new games is really tiring, so I might just have a little sleep and dream of … GRABBING SLIPPERS. |
Day 14 |
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Today I have had lots of CUDDLES. I CUDDLED all my humans. I CUDDLED all my toys – sausage dog loves a cuddle and so do the sloth twins. My sloth twins don’t have many arms and legs because I chewed them but they don’t mind. Just look how smiley they are! I tried to CUDDLE the cat too but she doesn’t like CUDDLES. She hissed and spat at me and she looked like she might chew my arms and legs (I don’t think I would like that!) So, I think I will stick to human and soft toy CUDDLES. I am looking forward to CUDDLING the children at Tor View. Oh dear, all that cuddling has made me feel really tired, so I might just have a little sleep and dream of … CUDDLES. |
Feeling so bored. The humans are at home which is usually good but they are on their laptops so no one is playing with me. All you here is tap, tap, tappity, tap.
Bored, bored. Humans are talking to screens very loudly – no one has any time for me.
Bored, bored, bored, but it is a new day, so I’ll try a new sleeping position. I have hidden my paws – can you find them?
Bored, bored, bored, bored – well not so bored really just tired of same old dog food. I didn’t eat any breakfast because it was too boring so one of my humans added some milk.
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored – but I went into the garden today and I helped my humans out lots. I did 3 GREAT things to help the humans:
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored – but I have been helping with the COOKING today. The humans love it when I help them to COOK. I am very, very helpful. I help by lying on the floor by their human feet.
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored – well not really that bored. In fact, I had a great day today. I went on a big long walk and I jumped in a big muddy bog. It was great. I was really, really, muddy. My legs were muddy, my tummy was muddy and even my head was muddy. My humans looked far too dry so I shook myself really hard and showered my humans in sloppy mud – it was GREAT! They were so happy they jumped up and down.
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Today wasn’t too boring because I found all of my BALLS. I love to play BALL but the problem is they run away from you. Some BALLS hide under the sofa for weeks and then they suddenly reappear. Usually this happens after the hoover has been out. I don’t like the hoover. It is very noisy and it chases you around the house.
Day 11 Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
Day 12 Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
Day 13 Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
Day 14 Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
