With the holiday season approaching fast, the Princeton Public Schools district has announced an early gift for its students. A four-month-old Goldendoodle puppy, named “Tiger'' by students at the elementary schools, is currently in the process of becoming a certified therapy dog. Rotating through the elementary schools and visiting the middle and high school occasionally, Tiger hopes to positively benefit the Princeton Public School students through mental engagement and emotional support.

“Tiger is going to be able to come in and visit students at the elementary, middle, and high schools,” said Sarah Moore, the PPS Supervisor of Elementary Education. “Therapy pets help lower our cortisol levels and help us feel less stressed out. For younger students, it can help with reading engagement.”

Growing up as a single child on a farm, Moore had spent much of her childhood around animals, whether it be the dogs and cats in the house or the horses she rode. The environment filled with animals had allowed her to see all of the positive benefits that animals can bring, and has been a huge factor in her initiative to bring Tiger to the district.

“I have spent a lot of my childhood around animals and saw the therapeutic benefits they had,” said Moore. “So I wanted to be able to bring some of that benefit to Princeton!”

Although Tiger is her first official therapy dog, fostering dogs is no foreign concept for Moore. Currently, she helps take in foster dogs for the Trenton Animal Shelter and has been doing so for years. Her previous experiences have allowed for a smoother transition as she takes on the new initiative.

“We have dogs pretty frequently that come in for some short-term fosters,” said Moore. “So the idea of training is not new to me, but Tiger is my first official therapy dog.”

Despite Tiger’s training being far from over, he has already made progress. His friendly demeanor and calm temperament make him perfect for an elementary school. Though adjusting to his new, busy environment takes time, Tiger is already doing some on-site training.

“[Tiger] comes into Valley Road on Fridays to work on some training in buildings,” said Moore. “There aren’t any students … so he can get used to the different textures of floors and being in and out of buildings. He’s done really well with that.”

While Moore is taking on a current initiative to help the students of the Princeton Public Schools District, her journey started long ago. After studying English as well as deaf and hard of hearing education at The College of New Jersey, as well as participating frequently in the deaf-blind project there, she saw an opportunity to combine her two areas of expertise.

Moore was able to use her experience with animals and the deaf-blind community to bring in Tiger who, although not specifically trained for blind or deaf service, still requires similar training when going through certification to be able to positively interact with elementary school children.

“I have worked with some people who are deaf-blind who sometimes used seeing eye dogs. A therapy dog is a little different in its purpose, but still falls under that umbrella of service animal,”Moore said.

When Tiger isn’t busy visiting schools and helping students, he enjoys napping on the couch, eating peanut butter, and playing with his favorite toy: a stuffed animal Hedwig from Harry Potter.

Although Tiger will be spending most of his time at the elementary schools, his visits to the middle and high schools on Fridays will be something to look forward to for all PPS students. Andre Penn ’23, a student school board representative who was able to meet Tiger at a board meeting, believes that Tiger is going to really help out the district as a whole.

“Dogs are very comforting … and I think it’ll be good for the district and good for people’s mental health to have access to a dog,” said Penn. “We’re trying to make sure that the dog is coming to PHS on a regular basis.”