As I open the door to my second-hour class, I am greeted with a smiling face and a wagging tail. This greeting is out of the ordinary. Although Ms. Brandt does welcome us with a smiling face, she does not have a tail. This new friendly greeting in the Ag wing is due to the trend in recent weeks of dogs being brought to class for Ms. Brandt’s Animal Science section.

Five dogs have been brought into class so far. Small dogs like Chihuahuas and Golden Doodles are welcomed into the classroom, and large dogs, including Labradors and Weimaraners, are welcome. This variation in breeds is because Ms. Brandt is doing a unit on dog breeds in her animal science class. During this unit, she allows some students who want to bring their dogs to hang out with the class.

Brandt said that she has been allowing students to bring in their dogs “almost every year” but that they used to have all the dogs come in on one day. Eventually, she realized how chaotic this could be with all the dogs running around, so she started only having dogs come in one day at a time.

With all these dogs coming into NUHS, one might wonder if they have had any mishaps. “We did have one dog pee on the floor, but that’s about it,” said Brandt.

However, not just the animal science students are getting to enjoy these wagging tails. Students who bring their dogs bring them at the beginning of the day, and then the dog stays with Ms. Brandt and her first three sections of students. As a result, many students from NUHS get to interact with these dogs when they enter the Ag wing.

Students’ faces always light up when they walk into class and see a dog in the room for the day. “I enjoy seeing their fluffy tails and smiling faces,” said Kamden Melzer, a Horticulture student. Melzer’s favorite dog this year has been Ms. Brandt’s lab, Stanely, who sometimes visits more throughout the year. However, Melzer admitted to sometimes being distracted during work since he always wants to pet and play with the dogs.