Newspapers
Magazines
Television
NDTV
Radio Shows
At Jidda School for special children in Thane, a psychologist and animal lover is studying the effects of a dog's companionship
Kavitha Iyer
Mumbai, June 27, 2004
"Kutty, kutty, kutty, kutty", rattels Milind Jadhav(15), clapping his hands non-stop for a couple of minutes as a one year old Labrador skips in and slurps all over him. Licking boys and girls sloppily is allowed in the municipal run Anand Dighe Jidda School for Mentally and Physically challenged children.
Because Kutty - not to mean 'bitch' in Hindi but 'the little one' in Tamil - is a therapy dog assisting the school's special teachers. The children, some in wheelchair, some autistic, others with varying degrees of retardation squeal as Kutty swaggers in.
Then she runs to Minal Lonkar (23) who is studying the pedegree dog's interaction with the school's children. "You missed me? Mwah mwah", Lonkar mumbels into Kutty's ears, scratching her back.
Kutty and Milind
She'd just completed her MA in Clinical Psychology, when the animal lover and artist was contacted by Kshitija Koppal, a rare canine behavior specialist in India: The principal of a school in Thane just had an idea.
For Kutty's 'mother' and school principal Shyamashree Bhonsle, it all began on Animal planet. "A guide dog was doind all these wonderful things on TV and I thought, why not?" She called Koppal, who roped in Lonkar. A pup was donated and Lonkar broached the subject of a therapy dog. A few months of training later the project took.
"Kutty had to be taught not to react sharply to anything." say Lonkar. True enough, even when a half scared, half curious girl tugs her tail, all Kutty does is turns and bestows a doggie grin. While the program has another two quarters to go with the same eight students, Kutty has defined her long term goals herself.
She bounds into the classroom unexpectedly, distracts cranky children, plays throw and fetch and supervises lunh time in the school. Even skeptical teachers have grown to miss Kutty when she's not lording in the classroom.
"She fulfills their need for touch," says Lonkar, "they can hug her and be licked in turn. She is the companion they want so much".