Lord of the Dogs, A Beginning

It's super late, and I am still not quite feeling like myself, so I will start, which is better than not starting. Or at least that is what I am telling myself these days.

Last night we went from Lily's Class Night, which entails all of the parents going to the school in the evening and having the teacher explain what is going on in the classroom, to another class night of sorts: Sadie's first training session to become a therapy dog.

There were some parallels, of course. The chairs were uncomfortable. The teacher was determined to hold our attention. There was no food for the grown-ups. But for the most part, dog school, which is what Lily is calling this new project, is not much like kid school at all.

In preschool, at least those like Lily's progressive version--which is increasingly the national model--classrooms are inclusive and accepting. All students are equal, and all varieties of temperament, ability, and attention span are accepted and embraced. When I look around Lily's classroom when the kids are there, I see happy faces and involvement, some kids drawing pictures, others building with blocks. When somebody cries, he is not thrown out of the room. When somebody eats too much at snacktime, she is not banished to the hallway. Dog school, on the other hand, can be brutal.