Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Merlin, the facility dog at Vestavia Hills Elementary West, lays on a pillow surrounded by Jolene Waid, far left, Ollie Bryan, back center, Jane Byars, back right, and Abby Alexander as the students read books in the school library on Jan. 11. Merlin, 5, is a graduate of Service Dogs of Alabama and has been the facility dog at Vestavia Hills Elementary West since 2022.
Dawn Norris said on any given day, Merlin’s right on the money.
Norris can walk into a classroom at Vestavia Hills Elementary West, let the black lab off the leash and — after he sniffs around to see if there’s any food — he will find the child who needs him most and sit down with him or her.
“He knows based on stress hormones,” said Norris, a counselor at the school. “It’s really cool to watch, because we as counselors know what’s going on with the kids in the classroom, and he’s right 100% of the time.”
This is Merlin’s second school year at Vestavia Hills Elementary West as a facility dog — basically a service dog assigned to a whole school rather than just one person. In 2019, Norris applied for him through Service Dogs Alabama, the state’s only Assistance Dogs International accredited organization.
Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park is on the waiting list and hoping to get a dog this spring.
Emelie Sara Vines, a counselor at VHELP, said while there is a bit of a wait for the dogs, she is “confident that their training is thorough and simply amazing.”
Amy Capps, the development director for Service Dogs Alabama, said serving the students and staff is the dogs’ full-time job.
“They help children with anxiety or learning disabilities, support students with test taking and dealing with trauma,” she said.
In addition to providing facility dogs to schools, Service Dogs Alabama also supplies them for courtrooms, juvenile probation offices and other organizations around the state.
“We harness the dogs’ area of excellence and ensure they are placed right where they belong,” Capps said.
They also provide dogs for individuals who might need help with mobility or handling medical issues such as imminent seizures or PTSD. Since the organization’s inception in 2010, Service Dogs Alabama has placed more than 120 dogs, 40 of which are in schools.
The dogs are prepared for placement at their training facility in Hope Hull, just south of Montgomery.
Capps said they have around 55 dogs in various stages of training at any given time. About 25 are puppies being raised by 50 inmates in a women’s correctional facility, who earn the privilege to live in a special dorm with the dogs.
“It’s a huge benefit to help the inmates stay on the up and up, but it also provides them with a skillset,” Capps said. “It doesn’t mean they have to come out and be a dog trainer; they could be a vet tech, or they could do training to do other things with animals later.”
After this phase of training, the dogs move to the Hope Hull facility.
Norris said she and her co-counselor, Emily Foster, went there for five days of intensive training in spring of 2022, when they were notified that Merlin was ready for them.
“We were basically there to learn the amazing things he already knew and his commands,” Norris said. “Then we brought him to school that next Monday.”
On a normal day, Merlin might spend time in classrooms or in small groups the counselors are working with. He also helps in the car line when kids are hesitant to leave their parents.
“If a kid is having a hard time regulating, usually he can solve that quickly,” Norris said.
For Merlin’s birthday, West students made drawings for him and brought in donations of $1 for Service Dogs Alabama, raising $150 in total.
“He’s a tool in the toolbox — he’s amazing. He’s embedded in our school, and he’s a celebrity,” Norris said.
To learn more about Service Dogs Alabama, visit servicedogsalabama.org. Merlin is also on Instagram @magnificent.merlin.vhew.
