East’s Furry Friend: Teacher Russel Debey brings Ella, his trained therapy dog, to school for staffers and students to enjoy

Walking through the halls of East you may come across a Shihpoo brown and black ball of fluff wandering from classroom to classroom known as Ella. The Environmental Ed teacher, Russel Debey has been bringing Ella to school for two and a half years now. She’s a therapy dog that brightens students’ and staffers days. I sat down with Mr. Debey and got to know his loyal companion. 

1. What is Ella’s job at East? 

“She walks around the classrooms and hallways and visits with students. Sometimes she’ll sit in their laps and sit next to them so they can pet her. She also loves to wander the building looking for treats from teachers and staff members.”

2. When did you get Ella?

“We’ve had her for four years now — so she’s almost four and a half years [old]. We got her for my daughter who has ADHD and anxiety to help her with those problems. My wife and I decided to get her trained as a therapy dog.”

3. How long did the training take?

“About three or four months. It was a three-part test where she first had to go in and do an evaluation to see if she could qualify for going through the test. Then she had to actually do the test and after that we had to do an on-site evaluation in which the trainers had to come and watch Ella and I interact with students.”

4. Why did you want her to be a therapy dog?

“Primarily to help my daughter, but I thought if she could help somebody at East instead of sitting at home then there’s more power to her. Students will come in and sit down with her, even during class and so she’s more useful here than at home.”

5. How do you think Ella’s impacted people at East?

“It’s really fun to watch people say, ‘Oh hey there’s Ella,’ and reach down and pet and scratch her. They like seeing her here which is kind of nice. I don’t think she takes away from anybody’s daily activities, but she does help them just by seeing her and being able to touch her, it makes everyone feel good.”

6. What’s the biggest impact she’s had on you?

“That she’s a friendly dog, and that she’s willing to come to school and hang out with students and be around 1,800-plus people. Just to see people’s excitement and see everyone enjoy her here, to me that’s pretty good.”

7. When you bring her to East, what does she do?

“She’ll come into my room, but she has free rein of the building. When she first started coming here, teachers doors were always open throughout the building, but ever since COVID, teachers have their doors closed more. She usually just wanders in and out of classrooms. I know she wanders around the hallways and around the fourth floor on her own.”

8. Have you ever lost her?

“Oh, all the time. She always finds her way back and she knows to come back to my room. Everybody watches out for her, which is a good thing. I’ve had students bring her back to my classroom thinking that she was lost. Typically she’ll be on the third or fourth floor just walking around. She knows this building pretty well — other than the fifth floor and basement — she doesn’t love stairs.”

9. Do you have a schedule for her when you bring her to East?

“No, just whenever. I try to bring her on days when I don’t have a lot of stuff after school or a lot to do. I try to bring her on Mondays because that’s when she gets to see all of my classes. And that’s usually good because she’s rested from the weekend and has more energy. But I love bringing her on block days as well.”