Trainer outlines staged plan to ready Luna as a school therapy dog

Board staff introduced a trainer who joined the meeting by Zoom to outline a multi-stage training plan to prepare a puppy, Luna, for work in district schools.

Staff (Speaker 3) introduced "Parker," the remote trainer, and the trainer (Speaker 6) identified himself on-screen as Andy Filmore of Dog Training Elite, which operates in Nashville, Clarksville and Knoxville. The trainer said the program begins with early exposure to school-like environments—children, loud noises and building traffic—starting in the puppy months and moving to formal obedience training at about 16 weeks. After individual lessons with handlers, Luna would attend weekly group classes, complete two on-site clinical sessions inside school buildings, and then take a therapy-dog certification test administered through his training program.

The trainer said timelines vary by dog. "We've seen dogs be able to start working as a therapy dog as soon as 8 months as long as a year and a half," he said. He characterized Luna as calm and a good candidate based on initial exposure during her first day at an elementary school.

Board members and staff discussed how the dog will be handled in schools and noted Britney (school counselor) would be a primary handler in on-campus sessions. The chair described prior personal experience with therapy dogs and urged the board to assess the program's mental-health benefits and logistics.

What happens next: the trainer provided contact information for follow-up; staff will continue work on the acclimation schedule and bring operational details to the board as needed.