Now at work at Coloma Elementary School is a fully certified therapy dog to help improve the physical and mental well-being of students.

Mavis, a smooth collie, started training to be a therapy dog last year when teacher Natalie Contreras approached the principal and superintendent about the idea. She tells us she obtained Mavis herself from a breeder in New Hampshire with the idea of getting her trained and ready for school visits. Mavis is now certified through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and at the school two days a week to work with students.

Contreras says it’s amazing what a therapy dog can do for the kids.

“ She’s often very helpful with children who are emotionally dysregulated, having a bad moment,” Contreras said. “ She just goes and sh

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